Fate, Destiny and Existence
by Koomahana
Summary: They wanted to make Sasuke happy, they wanted to become the perfect wife just for him but in order to do that they needed someone to help them make Sasuke happy. Naruto happened to have lunch in their meeting room and got pulled into the situation, then their world came crashing to a halt
1. Chapter 1

**Fate, Destiny and Existence**

Chapter 1: how it begins

Koomahana

 ** **I know I'm not supposed to say this but... I wasn't even sure if I should've posted this,** please tell me your thoughts!**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site**

 _Thoughts_

 _Paragraphs are flashbacks_

…

* * *

…

He was eating lunch by himself in the top floor room that sat by itself in the eastern-most building, farthest from the classrooms and cafeteria of the academy. He was staring at the sky in boredom when someone planted booth feet into his face and pushed him into the room, before he could do anything they were on top of him with both hands over his mouth. He heard the door open and closed, tilting his head back he saw two familiar looking girls standing just inside the room; the taller blonde easily turned the lock on the room and stared down at him in an almost curious manner.

"Huh, Ino what is he doing here?" Sakura asked, looking at her friend curiously

"He's what we'll be practicing on," Ino answered, looking at her friend with a smile

"Our practice dummy?" the girl on top of him asked, pulling away from him so that the afternoon sun lit up her perfectly purple hair, "are you serious Ino? He's the class idiot."

"Which is why we can practice on him," Ino replied walking forward while the other girl stood up and walked towards the window, looking out of it as if to check for any followers.

"Uh… what are you three talking about?" he asked, pushing himself up and turned towards Ino, watching how she crouched in front of him and smiled peacefully

"How do you feel about being kissed?" Ino asked, in answer his face turned bright screaming red, "good, Ami close that window."

"Done," the purple haired girl replied, removing the stick and gently laying the heavy piece of wood down against the seal, "are you sure you want to practice on him?" Ami asked, turning to look back at the blonde, "I mean, we could practice on a different boy…"

"Nu-uh, Naruto is the only who fits the criteria," Ino replied, looking back at the girl, "I've done all my homework on this project. Trust me, Naruto is the only one we can practice on without any recompressions. I mean think about it this way, who would belief him?"

"Iruka-sensei," Sakura answered bluntly, "even you know he has a soft spot for Naruto."

"True," Ino smirked at the pinkette, "but I bet Naruto would never want to get _you_ into trouble."

"I'm still confused here," Naruto pipped up, face still red, "What do you guys want with me?"

"We want to practice on you," Ino answered him, "but if anyone finds out we're all in big trouble, epically Sakura-chan."

"Huh, what do you mean?" Naruto asked, "How come Sakura-chan would be more trouble then you or Ami?"

"It's because of all the secrets Sakura-chan is keeping from her parents," Ino answered patiently, "They still don't know that she forged their signatures on the papers and entered the academy. Though I suppose it's a plus that they're merchants and are home about once a year anyways, so she's in the clear for now."

"What would they do if they found out she entered the academy?" Naruto asked curiously

"They'd move to another country," Ino answered, "Now don't you think it would be a good idea to keep this to ourselves? A secret between the four of us that no one else knows about, after all if someone else finds out then Sakura-chan is going to have to go away forever."

"Yeah," Naruto nodded, "What was it that you want to practice with me though?" Ino grinned and launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and smashing her lips to his, closing her eyes while she was at it. Naruto was too stunned to do anything more than stare wide-eyed at the blonde taking up his entire vision, before he knew it, Ino was pushing away from him and pouting.

"Humph, I bet Sasuke-kun could kiss me better than that," Ino huffed in disappointment, before Naruto could respond, Ino was scuttling back words and gesturing for one of the other two to go next. Sakura blushed brightly, staring at him in complete mortification. Ami rolled her eyes and crawled forward until she was inches away from Naruto's tomato red face, she cocked her head to the side curiously and then gently pressed her lips against his, like she was as unsure as he was. Ino counted to five before she tapped Ami's shoulder and smirked at the purple haired girl in approval, then they both looked at Sakura expectantly. The pinkette's face was a red as her dress, even her eyes looked like they were starting to spin inside her skull. Ino snickered at her friend and gently guided the pinkette forward until she got the hint, then Sakura leaned forward of her own free will and just as her lips were a hairs breath away from Naruto's—he feinted.

"Either you have the magic touch or he's just that pathetic," Ino drawled, "Come on, lunch is about over and we'd better separate before someone notices that we're all missing."

"Right," Ami nodded and headed for the window

"What are you doing Ami?" Ino asked curiously

"No way in hell am I being seen with you two," Ami answered, opening the window and glancing back at them, "it'll be suspicious if someone sees us three together. I'm supposed to hate you both remember?"

"She has a point," Sakura whispered, her face still bright red

"Alright, fine, see you later," they each went their separate ways, leaving Naruto alone in the room with a half-eaten lunch. Iruka would later find him in that room after school, waking him up with a shrill whistle in the blonde's ear and then scolding him for skipping as he walked him back to his apartment.

…

In the beginning he thought it was just a dream he had and he began to belief that it was as the days past and the girls continued to ignore his existence. Now it had been weeks since he last had contact with the three girls and he watched them flirt with Sasuke every day without getting any responses from him. One summer day he was eating lunch in the same room he fell asleep in the previous month, the one with really good dream, when someone decided to reenact the beginning of his dream. One minute he had his rice ball stationed at his mouth and the next he was looking at the ceiling with a pair of feet sitting on either side of his face.

"That didn't work out as well as last time," a familiar voice hissed, he looked slightly down and found himself staring up at a purple haired girl. The first thing he saw was a pair of nicely tanned legs disappearing into a short pink skirt, said skirt was hitched slightly to give the hint of something pale blue beneath. "Where are you looking?" Naruto's eyes snapped up and his face flushed three shades of red, Ami stared down at him with a raised eyebrow, still waiting for an answer.

"N-Nowhere," Naruto stuttered out fearfully

"Ami you're sitting on his chest," Ino hissed warningly as she entered the room and closed the door quietly behind Sakura, "Get off him before he begins to suffocate." Ami rolled her eyes and rolled off Naruto easily, straightening her skirt as she sat and turned her back to him, pretending he wasn't even there as Sakura and Ino both hurried over.

"Huh… what's going on?" Naruto asked curiously, trying not to think of what he was able to see for the first time

"What did you forget what we said last time?" Ino asked, "Our practice isn't over yet blondie."

"You're blonder then he is," Ami drawled

"Wait… you mean that wasn't a dream?" Naruto asked

"Yet she's smarter," Sakura sighed

"Touché," Ami shook her head with a smirk, rising to her feet she quietly walked to the window and examined the outside carefully. She silently moved Naruto's lunch onto the floor and carefully removed the stick holding up the large blind for the window and lowered it down the windowsill before placing the stick beside the window edge quietly. She turned around and froze, just behind her was Sakura and Naruto both laying on the floor with faces squashed into an accidental kiss. At Naruto's feet was Ino, hands covering her mouth as she tried to stifle her giggling at her well pulled off surprise attack.

"Ack!" Sakura gasped and pushed off Naruto hurriedly, nearly flying into Ino as she tried to scuttle away from the blonde boy.

"That wasn't nice Sakura-chan," Ino smirked at her, "you're bound to hurt his feelings."

"What wasn't nice was you pushing me into him," Sakura whined at her, careful to keep her voice low to avoid attracting attention. Ino rolled her eyes and moved to crawl over to the boy and kiss him herself but she stopped when she saw that he was out cold, face as red as a tomato, lips tilted up into a goofy smile and eyes spinning in his sockets.

"Oh nice one Sakura-chan, he's out!" Ino huffed, returning to her feet and helping her embarrassed friend up, "come on, no point in being here anymore." Ami watched the two leave silently, waiting for the door to close before she dared to move. When it clicked shut, she walked over to Naruto, kneeled and bent over him. She hesitated for a moment before finishing her intention and gently pressing her lips against Naruto's slightly parted mouth, her eyes popped back open when she felt his breath hitch. She pulled back and stared down into his wide eyes, she blinked and stood, walking calmly to the window she propped it back open and flipped over the edge, disappearing into the shadow of the building next door.

…

The next time Naruto was alone with the three leaders of the 'Sasuke fan-club' it was close to his birthday and Ino had brought a book about how to kiss. This time Naruto tried very hard not to feint when Sakura carefully pecked him on the cheek, following the instructions of the book. One by one, they each pecked him somewhere on his face, then on his lips, then when the book talked about opening their mouths and pushing their tongs into the their partner's mouths, Naruto couldn't stay awake and feinted anyways. Ino huffed in irritation and left the book hidden in the room's dresser, she and Sakura both left soon after. Ami shrugged, kicked Naruto in the leg and then left out the window again, leaving Naruto to stare at the ceiling in a daze. When he was ready to leave the room again, he quickly put the book into his school bag and took it home to read, the next time Ino decided it was time to 'practice' he would be ready. The next time turned out to be just before Halloween, three weeks later, Ino nagged him for taking the book and reading it first but was otherwise had nothing else to say.

"This time don't feint," Ino hissed at him, grabbing his ear and giving his head a good shake

"Ow! Okay, I'll try!" Naruto whined, she released his ear and snatched the book out of his hands

"Can we make this fast? It's cold," Sakura whispered, rubbing at her arms and staring at the white cloud of mist that formed with every word she spoke. "This isn't normal… maybe this is a sign that we shouldn't be doing this Ino."

"Sakura, its fall, is the beginning of winter and winter is known for being cold," Ino drawled unconcerned, "Alright, let's start with the 'innocent pecks', Sakura-chan you go first." The pinkette sighed and carefully put both hands on the floor next to Naruto's leg, leaned forward and gave his cheek a quick peck. "Again, that was lame," Sakura sighed, closing her eyes and bowing her head, "Come on Sakura-chan, the quicker you do this the faster we can get out of here." Pursing her lips, Sakura nodded and added three quick pecks to Naruto's forehead and cheek, one dangerously close to his mouth, before leaning back and pouting at her widely grinning friend. "Alright, my turn!" Naruto scrunched his face slightly as Ino put kisses on both cheeks and planted a long one on his forehead, as if she was mocking him. Next was Ami, who gave him one carefully placed peck on his cheek and another on the edge of his mouth before returning to her kneeling place to Ino's right.

"What's next on the list?" Sakura asked, shivering to Ino's left

"The next is the kiss to the mouth, basically the same as the pecking but a touch longer and on the lips," Ino said as she read the short inscription in the book, she turned a glare onto Naruto. "You're not going to feint again are you?"

"No," Naruto pouted at her, "I said I wouldn't."

"Good because Ami and I haven't had practice on this one," Ino huffed, "you feinted the last time because of Sakura-chan!"

"It's not my fault," Sakura huffed in annoyance, Ino rolled her eyes and leaned forward, not so gently pushing her lips against Naruto's, who didn't even appear to be impressed with the action. Again Ino pulled back and glared at him, irritation shinning her eyes as she grumbled under her breath as she leaned back onto her palms and gestured for Sakura to go. Sakura's face blushed brightly as she leaned forward again, wrinkling her nose before darting in quickly and pulled back almost before their lips could touch.

"That was lame," Ino drawled as her friend leaned back

"Bite me," Sakura retorted tartly, frowning at Ino as Ami took her chance to move in for her turn. Before Ino could retort to Sakura, they both heard a thump and turned to see Naruto laying on the floor past out and Ami hovering in her spot where his face should've been.

"First Sakura-chan and now you," Ino huffed, "maybe we should find a boy who wouldn't feint after every kiss."

"That or we could increase the frequency of the practices," Ami replied, sitting back on her knees, "the last time was in the middle of summer, that was weeks ago Ino. In order for any of us to get used to kissing we're going to have to do it at the very least of once a week, any more than that will create questions."

"I agree," Sakura whispered, "how are we supposed to learn for Sasuke-kun if we're getting next to no practice ourselves?"

"Fine," Ino huffed, "After Halloween break we'll hash out the days we'll do this so we won't get caught by our elders."

"Deal," Sakura jumped to her feet and hurried for the door, "now let's go, it's too cold here." Ino and Sakura quickly left without looking back at the other two, Ami rolled her eyes at them and grabbed Naruto by the ear, pulling him straight up even as he yelped loudly. Ami let go and headed for the window again, opening it and looking both ways she quickly jumped out and carefully let the blind set back down in place before she took off again. Naruto grabbed up his lunch again and finished eating on his way back to class, ignoring the scolding he received from Iruka about being late (again). After attending the last class for the day, more than happy they had a half day, Naruto hurried back to his apartment with a smile on his face. His plan was to change into warmer clothes and visit the nearest park to play with some of the other kids who still weren't scared of him. However, fate decided to hate that day. Just outside of his apartment building were several large traveling bags, just as he started to pass them his building manager stepped out with a small frog lamp in hand.

"Ah, hay that's mine!" Naruto shouted at the man

"Yeah? I didn't know that," the brunet drawled carelessly, "you didn't pay rent again this month, that's the sixth time brat. I warned you last time that if you didn't pay up again you'd be out on the street; I can't afford to have a free loader in the building, understand? You don't even help out around here, you just crash here and then you're off again."

"But I did pay! I swear I have been!" Naruto protested loudly

"Oh yeah? Then where's the money?" he asked, Naruto didn't answer, he fisted his hands and glared at the ground, earning a sigh from the manager. "Look, if you come up with this month's rent I'll let you back in deal?"

"Deal!" Naruto grinned widely, glad that there was still hope for his home, "I'll get you that money by the end of the day!"

"Just to make sure you don't steal it or kill yourself trying to get the money, make sure you get at least half of the rent by the end of the week," the manager replied dully, throwing one hand into the air as he walked away. "Be safe and avoid the death sector."

"… but we live in 'death sector'," Naruto said dumbly

"Oh ha-ha, very funny," Naruto smirked as the man closed the building door behind himself, frog lamp still in hand. at least he knew the rest of his belongs would remain untouched in his apartment, the manager would lock the door and double check it every morning like he's promised to do when Naruto entered the academy. Turning and reaching for the closest travel back, Naruto stopped when a small tan hand grabbed it first. Following the black sleeve up to the owner's face, Naruto found himself staring at a slightly blushing familiar looking girl.

"You know a safe place?" Ami asked, "I'll help you carry these there…"

"Yeah I know a place," Naruto said slowly, grabbing the other handle of the large bag, "but why do you want to help me?"

"I just felt like it," Ami replied sharply, "Want me to leave?"

"Ah no! I kina need your help!" Naruto back tracked quickly, earning a court nod from Ami

"Where are we going?" Ami asked as she tottered down the darkening street with Naruto

"Um… how about my secret base?" Naruto asked

"If it doesn't have running water or electricity then I'm reporting this to the Hokage," Ami replied with narrowed eyes

"I swear it has electricity!" Naruto replied hurriedly, "I promise!" Ami grew slightly doubtful at his lack of promise for running water but followed him through the streets anyways. They walked past the edge of the road and through a few allies before reaching the forest, following Naruto's reassuring smile, they both walked into the dark forest. Just as the paly gray-blue sky over head became awash in orange and pink, they came to a broken down wall where beyond it were a few dozen houses that appeared to be a large house seemingly waiting for them. Ami gave Naruto a warning look before following him over the rubble with the bag in hand, together they walked it further into the strange over grown yard and then onto the old wooden porch. Naruto let go of the bag for a moment and opened the two large sliding doors, he grabbed the strap and with Ami's help, waddled the large travel pack into the house.

"See? Told you it was a safe place," Naruto smiled at her, Ami rolled her eyes, letting go of her own strap

"Does it have electricity or running water?" Ami asked, stretching her arms out

"Ah! That's right, hold on a moment!" Naruto smiled and dashed towards the nearest entrance, seeing what appeared to be a large dark counter, Ami assumed that it was the kitchen. Shaking her head, Ami looked around herself, wondering where she should put the bag, seeing a closet nearby; she started pulling the large pack towards it. Hearing Naruto turn the faucet on, Ami nodded at the sound of running water, glade he wasn't lying about that, and carefully opened the closet door. Seeing nothing but perfect darkness, Ami fumbled against the nearest wall, searching for the light switch, she found one but she stepped too far from the entrance and just as she flipped the switch on she began to fall. She gave a startled shout, reaching out for something to stop her fall but her hand only came in contact with traveling bag and with her momentum the bag started to follow her down.

"Ami?" Naruto called as he walked around the corner with a cup of water in hand, seeing the edge of the bag fall into the space behind the small pantry door, Naruto set the glass down and hurried towards what he assumed to be the pantry. To his amazement he found that the pantry was actually a large staircase leading straight down and at the bottom of the staircase was Ami, head propped up against the bag. Eyes widening, Naruto hurried down the staircase, reaching the bottom he checked Ami's pulse and sighed in relief at the soft steady beat thumping against his fingertips. Looking back up the staircase, Naruto decided that he wouldn't be able to carry Ami all the way up, so instead he looked around himself and saw a nearby door that properly lead to a room of some sort. Pulling one of Ami's arms over his shoulders, Naruto carefully started dragging her towards the door; he opened the door and was more than a little relived to see a large bed sitting there. He dragged Ami towards it, laid her down on the bed and then went back to the door, patting the wall beside it for the light switch.

"Ow," Ami groaned drawing Naruto's attention instantly, she lifted one hand and carefully brushed her forehead as if she was afraid to find a bump from where she landed.

"You're not hurt!" Naruto nearly shouted in excitement, "you fell straight down the staircase Ami, you're lucky the bag didn't fall on top of you!"

"Lower your voice idiot," Ami squinted her eyes at him, "you're making the headache feel even worse."

"Oh… sorry," Naruto stopped beside her, staring into her eyes worriedly

"…did you find any water?" Ami asked, looking away from him

"Oh yeah! I made you a cup of water!" Naruto turned and ran out of the room, "I'll go get it!"

 _Does he know what a headache is?_ Ami wondered absentmindedly

…

The next morning Naruto found himself keeping a damp cloth on Ami's forehead and water in her system, he planned to skip school but Ami told him that the teachers would think it strange they were both gone on the same day. So to avoid trouble (for him and the girls) he did as she told him and went to school, though not before making sure that food and water were within reaching distance for Ami. during school a couple of people visited Iruka and then left shortly afterword's, his favorite teacher seemed a little worried but didn't let the students dwell on the strangeness for long. During lunch Naruto separated himself from the rest of his fellow academy-students and secluded himself in a tree that was split into three. Ino and Sakura found him easily enough and the sight of Ino's angry expression made the blonde sigh and slump in his seat, not daring to move as Ino tried yelling at him without raising her voice.

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?" Ino hissed at him, both hands planted on her hips as she towered over him

"Why would I hurt Ami when the whole thing was _your_ idea?" Naruto asked bluntly, Ino faltered for a moment, Sakura's snort made her back away slightly with a thoughtful look. "Who are you talking about anyways Ino? You never specified…"

"Uh there are only three girls in the secret dork and one of us is missing, who is that?" Ino asked sarcastically

"Ah, she's fine," Naruto dismissed their concerns easily, "We saw her yesterday. Why are you freaking out?"

"Because they have evidence of some caretaker selling kids to our enemies," Ino informed him, "His name is Kado Hashimoto." Naruto spat out his water and coughed harshly, ignoring the surprised looks on the two girl's faces as he slammed one fist into his chest repeatedly.

"Kado?" Naruto wheezed out with wide eyes, "Kado as in the caretaker of Kuramura orphanage?"

"Yeah, you know him?" Ino asked

"Are you sure it's him? How sure are you that they actually have evidence against him?" Naruto asked, leaning close to Ino, looking almost desperate

"I heard my dad talking about it," Ino answered, stepping back in surprise, "They have him in holding now, they just need witnesses… do you know him?"

"Know him?" Naruto sat back, his face twisting up in anger and misery, "I lived there three years. I know Kado better than anyone else. _He's a monster_." Sakura and Ino had no doubt about the truth in Naruto's words, the expression on his face was all but screaming at them about the cruelty of the man they heard of that morning for the first time. For now, they could only hope that the strange man making a fuss with the adults would remain in custody and hopefully never be set free.

…

"Ino-chan what are you—whaaa!" Inoichi jumped back as his daughter turned to face him with a curious expression, "What the hell have you done?!"

"What do you mean?" Ino asked, "Its Halloween, I'm dressed up as ghost. Is that so strange?"

"I'm a witch!" Sakura smiled as she popped out from behind Ino, smiling cheerfully up at Inoichi, "thank you for letting us use some of your paints." True enough, his daughter had dressed herself up in a nice multilayered snow-white kimono with a large ragged white wrap that she properly bought from the store. Ino's face had a fair dusting of white dust to accompany the ghost theme, her eyes shadowed carefully in black and charcoal to make her unusual teal-green eyes pop, she even wore the little white triangle tied around her forehead by a single white thread, leaving her shoulder length platinum hair to weave freely around her shoulders. Sakura looked more like a little priestess then a witch, she wore the white kimono top and the bright bloody red bell-shaped pants of a priestess and a pair of little wooden sandals on her feet, at least her hair pulled back with her normal crimson ribbon, making her appear a little less scaring looking then her ghostly counterpart.

"Please tell me you're talking about your mother's make-up and not my acrylic paint?" Inoichi said slowly, narrowing his eyes at his daughter.

"Like I'm stupid enough to use canvas paint on _my face_ ," Ino drawled, giving her father an annoyed look, "yes we used some of mom's make-up. I know there isn't much left so I used it sparingly." Inoichi sighed, his shoulder's slumped slightly in relief. The girls looked good but the bright red stain of spilt ketchup on Ino's side threw Inoichi for a loop, thankfully the smell soon caught up with his head and he relaxed at its familiar scent.

"What happened to your side?" Inoichi asked curiously, leaning against the bathroom doorway with arms crossed

"Oh, uh, we kind of had a mini-food fight," Ino answered sheepishly, Inoichi rolled his eyes and shook his head

"Don't wander too far without me," Inoichi ordered as he turned to leave

"Uh, we're going to a Halloween party in Oak park," Ino replied, laughter sounding in her voice, "You're not even dressed!"

"I'm on duty, I think I pass for the night," he shot back

"Yeah, no, come as a Zombi or something dad, then we'll match!"

"Uh, no," Inochi shivered as he walked away, electing amused laughter from his child. About an hour later, Ino and Sakura were ready to leave for the party in the park, Inoichi watched as they walked out his door and was sure he would follow them soon enough but as he went to leave his home he was greeted by a panty Anbu agent.

"What is it?" Inoichi asked courtly, straightening at the sight of a heavily bleeding wound on the agent's back

"Ka… Kado… es…escaped," the agent started to collapsed but Inoichi caught him and started running across the rooves almost in the same movement. "you…" The agent wheezed, "He… ven-vengeance…you… on you…" Inoichi gritted his teeth and double checked his surroundings, his daughter was still close and judging by the sudden stop in her signature she knew something was wrong. Hopefully she would take the hint to go back home with Sakura.

"Stay with me man," Inoichi ordered as he ran, "Come on, speak to me," no response from the agent, "we're almost to the hospital, you gotta stay with me!" He could feel the man's signature start to fade but he couldn't tell if it was too late to save the man who tried so hard to warn him of the dangerous monster gunning for him. He arrived at the hospital just as one of the best surgeons in the village started to head home for the night, the man saw him and turned back around to get ready for the surgery he would have to perform. Inoichi hurriedly put the man on the nearest gurney and readied to inform the nurse what happened when a village wide alarm went off, alerting all shinobi of the escaped prisoner. The second it was over Inoichi went into over drive to inform the nurse everything, who quickly handed him a cup of water while he was talking, then Ibiki arrived and Inoichi hurriedly repeated himself. When Hiruzen arrived just as he finished, Inoichi gave him a droll look before flying through a set of complicated hand signs and just giving the old man the memories.

"Ah, I see," Hiruzen frowned to himself thoughtful, "Hurry home Inoichi, I'm sure your daughter is scared right about now."

"Yes sir," Inoichi turned and took three steps before stopping dead in his tracks, Hiruzen blinked slowly as he stared at the young but powerful sensor.

"Inoichi-kun, what is it?" Hiruzen asked, drawing Ibiki's attention to his partner. In answer, Inoichi dropped his cup of water and started running out of the hospital in a blind panic, "follow him Ibiki-kun."

"Right," Ibiki hurried after Inoichi as fast as he could, sliding to a stop across roofs just Inoichi started running again however, instead of running amongst the roof tops like a ninja, the blonde interrogator was running on the ground, asking strangers hurried questions.

"Excuse me! Have you seen my daughters? They're ten years old and dressed as a ghost and a priestess!"

"Oh the giggling sisters? Yes I saw them," the young mother agreed

"Which way did they go?!"

"Down that road and to the right, towards Oak park,"

"Thank you!" Inoichi started running again, berating himself for not checking that place first but he knew the best place to search for someone was at the last place they were seen. Inoichi had gone to the corner he last felt Ino's signature, he already knew she hadn't gone home like he hoped she would, he just had to make sure she wasn't just hiding her signature to scare a few other kids. He skidded to a stop at the edge of the park, searched it for his daughter's signature and then in a growing panic searched for Sakura's—to his horror he couldn't find either one.

"Sir! Have you seen my daughters? They were dressed up as a blonde ghost and pink haired priestess!" Inoichi never noticed his verbal slip up but at that moment he didn't really care, he all but raised those two girls himself anyways

"Ah, yeah I saw them, they headed over there," the man pointed to the far side of the park, where the western forest began, "they looked like they were following a few other kids but I'm not sure."

"Thank you!" Inoichi took off running again, ignoring Ibiki's silent presence when he landed on the ground and started running beside him.

"What's wrong Inoichi?" Ibiki asked, "you never panic—"

"I can't feel her! Either one of them! I can't find them!" Inoichi explained in a panic, "Their signatures are gone!" Ibiki frowned to himself, only two options could explain the disappearance of chakra signatures. One is consciously suppressing one's own aura, the other is death.

Ibiki prayed for Inoichi's sanity that the girls were merely unconscious

The two men burst through branches of the western forest, soon joined Inoichi's two teammates (both still dressed in their costumes) and a team of Anbu. Together they all landed on the ground and stood in a lose circle, Ibiki turned towards the captain, ready to explain the situation but instead froze. Just behind the farthest agent, pinned to a tree by a sword, was a billowing white wrap stained in bright red, short platinum hairs still tangled in the cloth. Turning slowly to examine the area around him, Inoichi saw broken bead bracelet Sakura was wearing when she left his house, as well as her white ribbon, pieces of her red pants and a portion of her once long sleeve. The tree closet to the blood-stained wrap had crushed bark and splattered with blood, several thin lines marred its surface, as if someone practiced sword strikes on it. Inoichi walked forward numbly, staring at the two trees where in his mind's eye, he could see the bodies of the two girls he all but raised himself. He could see Sakura laying against the damaged tree with her head bowed as blood dribbled from her brow, her body littered with scratches and cuts. He could see Ino, his baby, pinned against the tree next to Sakura's, staring at him with familiar dead jade eyes, held up only by the blade sticking out of her chest.

Inoichi collapsed before the two trees, staring at them with numb eyes as memories circulated through his mind mockingly. Shikaku and Chōza wanted to comfort their friend but didn't have the faintest clue as to what to do first, they turned towards the captain beside them and the man simply turned away from them, as clueless and helpless as they were. Ibiki stared at the bloody wrap and pieces of cleanly cut cloth, he tried desperately to push the feeling of led settling in his stomach out of his mind but it seemed to do little against the sight of the devastated, destroyed, defeated expression his friend was wearing. Ibiki took in a deep breath and started to walk forward, carefully walking around Inoichi so his view wouldn't be distorted, Ibiki gently pushed the white body wrap up just enough to see what was on the bark. Beginning to hate his sixth sense for hidden messages, Ibiki gently laid the cloth back against the tree and silently walked to the tree that a small body had been thrown against. Observing the cracked and barely holding together bark, he saw something seemingly peeking out at him from just beneath the bark, on the flesh of the tree, nearly hidden by the blood soaking the trunk. Curious Ibiki gently pressed two chakra coated fingers against the surface of the bark and watched as bright teal colored seal expanding almost the entirety of the trunk from ground to first branch; soon enough other seals reacted to the first and Ibiki found himself standing nearly in the center of five large trees with elaborate, expertly created seals. The agents all moved to the edges of the trees, wiry of being caught in some kind of trap, leaving Shikaku and Chōza to lift Inoichi from the ground and pull him aside as well. In the center of the groove, there was a flickering of images, flashing too fast for any of them to see clearly, then there was static, like a TV searching for a signal but receiving only static.

" _Ino!_ " Inoichi jerked at the familiar, panicked shout

" _Run_!" a hazy image flickered briefly into existence, remaining long enough for everyone to memorize it before it flickered back out again; Inoichi recognized his daughter's costume instantly. She was rising as if ready to sprint towards Sakura who was standing terrified nearby, between them was a tall man dressed in a long black cloak with ragged edges and a sword in hand, turned towards Sakura with his weapon held high as if he was ready to cut Sakura down.

" _Ha-ha-ha-ha!_ " Dark, thick, foreboding, mescaline laughter filled the air, " _vengeance… vengeance is mine!_ " another image flickered into existence, Ino was standing in front of Sakura, arms spread wide, surprise on her face, blood dripping down her chin; the man's sword was sticking out of her chest, sitting where her heart should be.

" _What did you do to her?_ " an image of Sakura and Ino standing side by side, unharmed and angry looking, " _We know you did something to Ami! She told us all about you!_ " his daughter stepped forward, as angry and menacing as a baby lion

" _Oh really?_ " the man asked, his voice thick with amusement, he stood at the very edge of the groove, his head turned slightly back too look at the two girls who followed him.

"The recorder was damaged," one of the agents whispered, "We're not watching in order…"

" _Look out!_ " The image changed, the man was in the center, his sword swung down as if to cut someone but the two girls had darted to either side of him, avoiding the strike easily.

" _Run!_ " the image shifted again, Sakura was holding two Kunai in front of herself protectively, blocking a strike from the man and protecting a wounded Ino, who was kneeling behind her with one hand wrapped around her bleeding arm.

"They fought," Shikaku whispered, watching the image change again. Showing the two girls standing side by side, weapons in hand and stances ready, they were battered and bruised but there was no sign of fear on their faces, just anger. "They didn't give up…"

The image shifted again to show Ino pushing Sakura out of the way and taking the hit herself, the blade of the sword sliding through her like a dull knife in warm butter. There was some unrecognizable flickering and flashing of images accompanied by shouts and screams and curses, then the flickering settled on a single image. Ino was lying in Sakura's arms, face tilted towards her friend but one hand raised up as if to stop something, their enemy was standing over them, his hand reaching out for Sakura, his sword was held in his other hand, low and ready as if he planned to grab Sakura and lift her into the air only to thrust the sword up under her ribcage. The image disappeared but the seals gave out one shrill scream before losing power and fading back into the trees from where they surfaced. Everyone was quiet as they listened to the echoing almost haunting silence of the forest; slowly the captain turned towards a quietly sobbing Inoichi and approached him as slowly as he could. Reaching the blonde, the captain crouched and waited patiently for the man to look at him but when he realized the master interrogator wouldn't be looking at him any time soon, the captain settled for placing a heavy hand on Inoichi's shoulder.

"You should be proud of her," the captain whispered, "She fought and died like a true kunochi."

A terrified scream filled the air, startling the team into moving like wisps through the dark forest without thinking

* * *

An hour earlier

* * *

Naruto struggled up the stairs with Ami tugged against his side, trying to help as they both waddled up the steep incline. At the top step Naruto filled two cups of water and they both took a short break, when the cups were empty, he easily put them back where he found them and lifted Ami back onto her feet. The walk to the porch was short, almost shorter than the walk to the broken wall were he helped Ami climb over the rubble before continuing their walk through the forest.

"Ah wait a moment," Ami said softly, pulling away from Naruto carefully

"What is it?" The blonde asked loosening his hold on her but not letting go

"I just realized I'm hanging on you," Ami pulled her arm out of his hold and stepping away, they both counted to ten before grinning at each other. "It doesn't hurt to stand," she whispered, her brown eyes lighting up

"And you don't look as sick as you did," Naruto smile grew, "maybe you were allergic to something in the house?"

"You mean like the house itself?" Ami asked dryly, however, Naruto was prevented from answering by the sounds of shouting. Sharing a curious look, the two cautiously moved toward the sounds, sticking close to the shadows just in case. Once they got closer to the shouting, they recognized the voices and nearly threw caution to the wind. However they made a plan to check out the problem first and interfere if they were needed, at which point Naruto would be the distraction and Ami would set up the trap if the person followed them. Being as quiet as possible, they separated, Naruto moving to help the two they knew and Ami to set up a quick trap. Naruto arrived in the field just in time to see Sakura scream as a man in a black cloak picked her up by her neck and throw her into a tree beside him. He quickly made a silencing motion with his hand but her only answer were teary eyes slipping closed and her body relaxing against the trunk. Fearing the worst, he looked back over at Ino, watching fearfully as the man made several swipes of his sword, cutting at her robe. When he stopped to kneel beside her, he assumed it was to remove the rest of her clothes but he only rolled her off something and then stood again, a large blood stained white cloth.

"I'll leave this behind to mock him," the man grinned as he walked towards Sakura, Naruto ducked lowly beneath the bush he was hiding under. The man lifted his sword and started slashing at the tree, Naruto looked back at Ino only to see her being lifted up by Ami. The two girls looked back at Sakura, one more drowsy then the other and they were shuffling quietly through the darkness. "Ha-ha, he'll never know what happened to you," the man turned froze, the blonde he wounded was missing, he turned slightly to look down at the pinkette laying against the tree not far from him.

"What happened to your little friend?" The man asked ruefully, crouching to put one finger under Sakura's jaw, lifting it slightly. "I see~ your hair color really is natural, that's good, you'll sell for more. Maybe more than your fr—" before the man could finish a rock flew out of the darkness beyond the trees and smashed straight into his face. Naruto had already been reaching forward to grab Sakura's wrist when the rock hit him, the only thing he did was guild Sakura's frantic scrambling away from the stranger.

"This way," Naruto whispered, tugging on Sakura's wrist, she followed him without question. They ran together through the darkening forest, Naruto unconsciously leading her to his safe place.

"Did we lose him?" Sakura asked, looking over her shoulder as they ran

"Doesn't matter, I now a place he won't be able to follow us!" Naruto shouted, Sakura gasped in a few sharp breaths, trying to run faster and get dragged less. Suddenly they heard a loud shout quickly followed by the echoing screams of curses, Sakura looked over her shoulder and herself staring at the furious man chasing them. She turned back around and tried to run even faster, adding a bit of chakra to her legs while she was at it. Only with the aid of her chakra did she begin to close the minor distance between her and Naruto. As they ran in what Sakura assumed to be blindly, she fought movement to her right and instead of seeing another man chasing them, Sakura saw a flash of a bright pink dress before it was swallowed by darkness. Not long after that she heard a cruel sounding snap of wood and the howl of pain from the man, the only thing she could think of was that someone else was in the forest with them. Someone who pulled a low branch as far back as they could before letting go and having it smash into the man, she could only pray they were smart enough to start running the second they let go.

"Don't worry we're almost there," Naruto panted, his hand tightening on hers, Sakura turned back around and saw a tall stone wall with a giant hole in it, as if someone made a clay wall and then smashed down the one section they didn't want standing. Naruto looked behind them, smiling at the person running after them, he turned back around and kept running, for a moment feeling as if the three of them could run for an eternity and never be caught. But that moment crashed at the sound of a started scream, Naruto stopped by Sakura didn't have his reflexes and ended up running past him only to start skidding when his hand slipped out of hers.

"Keep running!" Naruto ordered, "You're safe beyond that wall!" Sakura turned in time to see Naruto take off towards the person who was following them but tripped, along his dead sprint Naruto picked up a rock and threw it at the man, hitting him in the face again. The other kid took that chance to scramble up and run full strength towards Naruto; he waited until she passed before he followed her towards the wall where Sakura stood fearfully in front of it.

"Get to the other side!" Naruto shouted "Hurry! Get inside the house!" Sakura stood with shaky knees before the rubble, her wide teary eyes staring at the man gaining on Naruto and the girl she now recognized to be Ami. "Hurry!" Naruto screamed at her, "RUN!" Naruto stooped and snatched up another rock from the snow as he ran, he turned mid leap and threw it at the man but it missed his head by a few inches. Sakura ground her teeth together and reached into her left sleeve, grabbing the last of the senbon she had in it and then patted around her other sleeve only to remember in horror that it had gotten cut off and she was unable to use any of the needles hid inside it. Looking down at the three needles she had left, Sakura wondered if she was good enough to throw them and actually hit her target or if she was as bad in weapons as she's always been and end up missing him by a mile.

"Run!" Naruto shouted, glaring over his shoulder at the man still chasing them, Sakura grabbed one needle and prayed to Kami that it would hit the man where it would count. Taking in a deep breath, Sakura readied her stance and threw the needle at the same time she released her breath, Naruto and Ami both turned to watch the needle fly past them and land straight into the man's face.

"Ghyaaaaa!" the man stopped chasing them, cradling his face with both hands as he screamed

"Nice shot," Ami praised with a smirk as she passed Sakura, accepting Naruto's helping hand as he flipped over onto the other side waiting to catch her if she slipped. The pinkette turned to follow her lead through the hole in the wall but stopped at the feeling of pain exploding from her back. Sakura blinked at Ami, clueless and surprised as her world started to darken and she feinted into Ami's arms, revealing three sharp blades sticking out of her back. A dozen or so paces further away stood the man, his right hand clutching at his right orbit, grinning madly at them as he approached with another small blade in hand.

"Bastard!" Naruto screamed, chucking a piece of the wall at the man. Ami braced Sakura in her arms and leaped back words, trusting Naruto to catch her and Sakura as they fell through open air on the other side of the wall. Naruto did catch them, smashing himself against the frozen ground but he caught them, and then wasted no time in helping Ami pull Sakura over their shoulders and then hurried towards the house.

"Are you sure we'll be safe here?" Ami asked as she stumbled against Sakura, trying to follow Naruto into the house that was beginning to blur around her

"Yeah," Naruto answered tugging Sakura and Ami through the doorway into the house, where he then headed straight for the first door he saw, the opened one Ami had found the previous day. "You get sick being in here so I figured he can too."

"Naruto… I'm still standing," Ami reminded him, Naruto looked at her pinkening features then through the door way to the wall, a furious roar echoed through the air as if reminding them all of the monster following them. Naruto went to step down the stairs but found that they had shifted into a steep incline, making him slip and tug the two girls after him, sliding all the way down with wide eyes and stifled screams. At the bottom, Naruto pulled Ino up carefully and turned to look at Ami only to see that she couldn't stand by herself anymore. Ami waved him away and he quickly hurried down the long hall to the first door to his left and hurriedly put Ino down on the bed before running back out and doing the same with Sakura, Ami had crawled half way down the hall before he returned to carry her into the room as well.

"Did we make it in time?" Ami asked as he laid her down gently, "is he going to follow us down here?"

"I'll go make sure," Naruto whispered to her. Ami's eyes widened and before she could protest Naruto was out the door, racing through the dark hall with the door slamming shut behind him. Naruto darted up the stairs and shut the pantry door quietly before moving towards the back door and exiting the house as quietly as he could. He stuck close to the edge of the yard, hidden behind bushes and trees as he approached the broken wall. He peeked around the edge, worry of being seen by his enemy, seeing no one before the broken wall, Naruto carefully climbed over the edge. He turned around and faced the blood soaked earth, cringing his nose at the rotten scent in the air, and walked forward, looking at the pattern of blood on the ground.

"Kahahahahahahahaha!" The sudden laughter made Naruto jump, twisting midair to face the deranged man behind him. Kado was standing behind him, one hand still clutching his ruined eye.

"I can't enter," Kado told him, grinning at Naruto like a mad man, he reached out and slammed his left hand against the air over the rocks of the broken wall. Pinky sized hexagons burst into being, shooting out electricity and restraining Kado's hand from crossing that rubble strewn path.

"I couldn't follow you," Kado pulled his bloody hand back examining it with his single good coal black eye, "I couldn't get in. So I thought if I waited patiently you would come out. One of you, I didn't care who, just as long as one of you came out." He cackled, stepping forward and throwing both hands out to either side, drenching half his face in crimson and tossing his blood out in a wide arc around him. "I was hoping for the pinkette but you'll do fine boy! You'll do just fine! I'll take great pleasure in killing you as slowly as I can!" Kado approached and Naruto spun around, running for everything he was worth. Kado laughed as he chased him, making wide swipes with his short blade, cursing every time he swung but missed.

"My perception is off!" Kado laughed, "that little witch threw off my aim!" Naruto tripped and face planted the cold earth and screamed as a blade was thrust down into his left arm, pinning him to the cold earth. "Mahahaha! Your luck finally ran out!" Kado stood over him, ripping the blade out and laughing at Naruto's scream of pain, "you're going to die now little Kitsune and this time there's no one here to save you!" Naruto stared up at him in terror, his memories from the orphanage surfacing in his mind. Inside him the demon awoke to the smell of blood and terror, his host's fear vibrating his cage and filling the cavity with a sea of dark water. He looked through the boy's eyes, wondering who dared to threaten his host.

" _You're going to die now little Kitsune and this time there's no one here to save you!_ " The demon snarled furiously, a puny human dared to call the sniveling brat his kit and then had the gall to threaten him. He was going to make sure that man regretted being born. In the outside world, Kado slow motion as his sward came down and the blonde's eyes flashed demonic crimson.

" _Noooooooooo!_ " Naruto's scream was accompanied by a roaring torrent of wind exiting his mouth like a vortex, it surrounded Kado and threw him away from Naruto, it also made Naruto skid across the ground until he knocked over three trees and barricaded himself inside. The immense amount of chakra it took to create the torrent exhausted Naruto and made him pass out in the core of the damaged trees that wrapped around him like a cocoon. In his dream he was standing in knee deep water, standing in the middle of what looked like a water main tunnel, bright yellow light shining down from the grates overhead. A sudden burst of wind hitting him made him turn curiously towards the source but the tunnel lead forever more behind him just as it lead forever in front of him. A second gust of wind burst past him, stronger than the first, nearly making him fall into the water he stood in; then it was gone and the silence sounded like a whisper to him to find the source of the gusts. He walked forward slowly, watching the water pipes vibrate on the walls, strange how there were two sitting side by side, one almost looked blue in the strange yellow light and the other one almost looked rusty-red—wait a moment, that pipe is gray, why is that one different? He stared at the simple pip pulling out of the wall only to dive back in, there was no way for him to follow it so he followed the two strangely colored pipes, watching as more small red pipes began to appear. Some looking as if they pop out of the cement walls only to duck back inside them again; some red pipes appeared but ended abruptly a foot into the hall, like someone cut it off too soon. Suddenly there a change in the forever stretching on hall, to his left there was a large stone entrance, like the stone entrances he's seen on the really big buildings made to hold a lot of people. Seeing that the hall in front of him disappeared and the wall to his left seemed to merge with the new wall sitting in front of him, he turned and started to walk down the new hall. As he walked down the large new hall, he saw that the there was only one blue colored pipe, sitting all alone on the cement ceiling overhead. The walls were all coated in red pipes, dozens of them, all spanning widths and lengths, twisting together like the matted fur of a cat.

" ** _Who dares to trespass upon my domain?_** " he stopped in his tracks in the open doorway to a new place, he found himself staring into the great hall before him, looking at the perfectly smooth cement walls and endless ceiling high overhead. " ** _Do not ignore me boy, answer me!_** "

" _Who are you?_ " he asked, walking forward to examine the room curiously, there appeared to be no one there, just a large sealed gate on the far wall. " _Where are you?_ "

" ** _In front of you, you little pesk!_** " the voice barked out in annoyance, making Naruto look at the gate curiously and then he saw the huge red eyes glaring down at him from beyond the gate. " ** _How dare you greet me while I sleep! Tell me what you want boy so I can decide whether or not to kill you!_** "

" _Nothing,_ " he answered bluntly

" ** _…What?_** "

" _Nothing_ ," he repeated calmly, " _you have nothing that I want._ "

" ** _How dare you! I am the great Kyōbi Yoko! Destroyer of lands! I am feared around the worl—_** "

" _And that's why I want nothing to do with you,_ " he interrupted the demon's rant

" ** _Excuse me?_** " the crimson eyes lowered and glared menacingly at him, " ** _what was that?_** "

" _I said you have nothing that I want,_ " Naruto clarified. " _You claim to be the demon fox that destroyed my home and killed my parents. I may not know why you want to be something known only for distraction and death but that's your problem, not mine._ "

" ** _How can a puny little human like you not want anything that I have?_** " the demon asked, shaking its head and turning away from him, " ** _you must be a fool to not understand the greed of human kind._** "

" _If being a fool means I don't have to rely on a demon's power, then I'd rather be a fool for eternity,_ " Naruto replied, turning away from him, " _I don't know why you're here but I don't have the time to deal with you. There are others who need me right now and I have to figure out how to save them before they die. As a master of destruction, that makes you the most useless thing I could come in contact with right now._ "

" ** _I am no thing!_** " the red eyes roared furiously, " ** _I am the Kiyobi! The great nine tails! Respect me you little damned fool!_** "

" _Why should I respect someone who's so content with destroying everything and everyone?_ " Naruto asked, silencing the fox, " _if you'll excuse me I have to go find bandages._ " Technically he had to figure out how to get away from Kado and return to the girls before they bled to death but he figured the demon didn't need or care for such information.

" ** _What good are those?_** " the fox snorted dismissively, " ** _those useless pieces of cloth won't save anyone if the wound is deep enough._** " Naruto stilled, staring down at the rippling knee deep water, showing him nothing but his own miserable looking reflection. The girls were sick and in need of help, they were hoping he'd come back to keep them safe, relying on him, trusting him with their lives. No one's ever trusted him, no one's ever relied on him before, no one has ever sought help or looked at him the way they did. Fearing that he wouldn't be enough but praying that he could still protect them from the man they feared, they needed his help and yet they were scared he would be unable to save them.

" _Even so_ ," Naruto started slowly, " _you chose the path of destruction and misery. That is your choice, not mine._ "

" ** _Ha! You know nothing of your elders! They sealed me into you so you would be a master of destruction and misery! They sought to make you a weapon!_** " the blood red eyes lowered to his level, staring at him as if he was trying to see into his very soul, " ** _and that is all you'll ever be to them, a weapon._**"

" _Guess that's your fault too,_ " Naruto said, stepping back and glaring defiantly up at the crimson eyes of the fox, unafraid of his power, " _you chose to become a weapon of mass destruction and as such have made all others see me as they would see you. A creature of purest darkness, a creature of evil, a creature of death. This is the image you've left behind for humanity to see, this is the reputation you've built, this is the fate you carved for yourself._ "

" ** _Those are some big words for someone who can't even spell them,_** " the fox smirked at him, " ** _this argument is almost amusing, I just might help you with your problem anyways._** "

" _I don't want nor need your power!_ " Naruto shouted at him, " _You destroy everything you touch! Every life that you meet, you end! You destroy and kill for the enjoyment of it! I don't want you power!_ " Naruto turned and ran down the hall, his last shout echoing in the great hall of the sealed demon.

" _I need to save lives and you can't help me!_ " The demon frowned as he watched the boy disappear into the darkness of the hall beyond his cage; before he was sealed into a human being he was considered a healer, the most stable of his siblings, the strongest of his kind. Then the monster Uchiha decided to use him as a weapon against another healer and that healer chose to seal him into his wife to save their people. Mito refused to rely on his power too, just as this little boy had screamed at him. Though when she felt lonely she came and visited with him, daring him to remember the seals and inscriptions she was raised to know by heart. It was a way for her to keep her mind sharp, to make sure she remembered, by challenging his memory of the seals she showed him. She taught him everything she knew, her only apprentice, her only student, the only one of her 'children' she could teach—and the knowledge broke her heart. He knew it in her emotions, her memories, she wanted to teach her son and daughter and then she wanted to teach her grandchildren but she made an oath to her father and swore to never break it so long as there was one Uzumaki left living. She had wanted to teach his next container but she was dying and left him with all of her knowledge, requesting that he would teach the red haired little Cretan in her place. Kushina was a two-faced little genius with a short temper and a nasty left hook. He knew from her memories that she was sad and lonely and like her predecessor, often turned to him for comfort, pretending to not be alone because she had a constant companion. As a child she only wanted a friend and as the only bond she had left of Mito, she asked him to teach her what her elder knew and he did. For the sake of getting her to shut up while he slept inside her mind, glade the rain representing her misery slowly faded away. She too swore to never rely on his power, choosing instead to 'protect' him from 'their' enemies, the people who would rip him out of her and seal him into someone who would use his power to destroy and murder at the order of their commander.

Every Uzumaki he's met, shouted with their heart to never use his power, swearing upon their very lives to keep him safe from every battle they faced. Yet every human they met shunned and hated them, treating them like they were him, a monster in human skin. Still those Uzumaki's dared to smile at him, dared to pretend not to be in pain from his existence inside them, dared to say they would protect him.

...

 _"Hay Kiyobi-kun guess what? I'm pregnant!" she shouted the news before he could even answer her in his usual sarcastic way, not that she even needed to tell him, he knew about the pregnancy the second it happened._

 _" **The seal will weaken and I'll escape** ," he replied in boredom_

 _"Then promise you'll protect him," she smiled at him_

 _" **Excuse me? You're a petty human with a short life span, why the hell would I promise such a stupid thing?** "_

 _"Because you love me!" she answered cheekily_

 _" **Why don't you go die somewhere dark and secluded?** " he huffed and turned away from her_

 _"Promise to protect my son?" she asked_

 _" **No, now go away** "_

 _"Only if you'll protect him!" she insisted in that chipper tone of voice that grated on his nerves_

 _" **I said no puny human! Go away!** "_

 _"I knew it! You do like him!" she laughed, "You get to spend more time with him then I do, it's not fair… but I'm glade. You always seem to get the short end of the stick, maybe now you can be happy."_

 _" **The second he's out I'm breaking free, killing him and torturing you** "_

 _"I knew you liked him,"_

 _" **What part of 'killing him' did you not understand?** " he asked, looking at her in disbelief_

 _"You threaten the people you like! The more life-threatening the promise is, the more you like 'em!"_

 _" **Why don't you do me a big favor and go die?** "_

 _"Wouldn't you die too?" she asked, tilting her head to the side cutely_

 _" **No, I'd return to the earth and in a few hundred years return to my present form,** " he flexed his claws at her and grinned, " **I'll destroy your precious little village then**."_

 _"Wow… your patient, strong and completely insanely morbid." She replied, unaffected by the threat or resulting snarl_

 _" **Do you want me to kill you now or when the brat is born?** " She smiled at him, completely unaffected by his threat_

 _"Don't worry Kiyobi-kun!"_

 _" **Die puny human!** " He hated that nick-name, she said as if he wore some kind of pet cat or plushy doll she liked_

 _"I know you'll like him," she smiled contently at him, as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders_

 _..._

It had been a long time since he last thought about that woman, an almost longer time since he thought about her request. The little boy's words rang in his ears, reminding him that it had nearly been a full century since he last healed another living creature and an even longer time since he last healed a human being. Sighing and looking up at the endless ceiling overhead, staring into its blinding golden glow, and let out a single echoing howl. It wasn't a roar of pain or frustration or even a cry of hatred; it was a howl of remembrance, a whistle of sorrow, a call to a memory long since forgotten. Half way down the hallway leading away from the demon, Naruto stopped running and looked back at the great hall he left behind, the sorrowful howling surrounded him, as if echoing his own loneliness. Shortly after the howling stopped, the knee high water glowed a bright orange tinted with jade streaks and swirls.

" ** _Not everything is as they appear,_** " the demon whispered to him, " ** _remember that brat._** "

Naruto awoke in darkness, the cold fingers of winter crawled over his toes and ankles, shifting shadows danced in the firelight peering in from the hole he made. The first thing he remembered was Kado, his insane laughter, his promises of death, the pain in his arm from the blade plunging in and then ripping out. He drew back, pressing his body into the broken tree he laid in, flinching as someone stepped over the branches and dirt over his head, sending bits of dirt and pebbles down atop his head. He heard whispering, a man speaking low as if he didn't want someone to hear him, almost too soft for Naruto to hear through the thick bark of the trees between them. Suddenly a single tan hand slapped the earth just inches shy of his foot and he screamed, sending out another blast of wind, pushing the person away from him and nearly shattering his protective tree barrier around him. There were shouts, voices ringing in his ears, numbing him to what was really happening, telling him only that Kado was there and he was ready to kill him.

"Naruto!" A voice shouted, watching in heart clenching fear as orange mist started to swirl around the mound of earth and tree, depicting where a certain child hid. "Naruto! It's okay your safe!" Other shinobi in the village were beginning to react, their panic filling the air, their memories from ten years ago surfacing like waves in a storm. A man with spiky brown hair and a single scar running across his nose, turned to the swirling orange rotating into the air, filling it with the angry howls of a monster described only in nightmares. Like many others he went racing into the western forest, forgetting that he was not dressed in his shinobi attire and wore only his gray yukata for the festival centered for the children. He ran nearly faster than the Jonin's filling the trees with darkened forms, racing for everything he was worth and nearly draining his chakra reserves in his rush. He was in the first wave to arrive at the scene, terrified screams filled the air but none came from the four Anbus huddled close around a mound of dirt and trees, all shouting and screaming at the child hidden inside. They weren't angry with the child, they weren't going to hurt him, but the boy was scared, associating only fear with the adults of his village.

"Naruto!" Iruka screamed, landing in a sliding crouch just behind the Anbu team, "Naruto! Wake up before I come in there and smack you!" not the usual approach to a freaking out jinchuriki but the waver in rotating orange mist gave Iruka more courage to shout at his rambunctious student.

"Naruto!" Iruka screamed, bracing himself against a howl of harsh wind erupting from the mound, "Wake up!"

" _I'm scared_ ," the voice was almost hidden in the roaring of the wind but it was just loud enough to draw everyone's attention, " _I'm scared._ " The orange mist shifted and a small form over the mound began to take shape, the familiar small form of a tiny child with nine fox tails stretching out behind him like shadows. " _I'm scared_ ," the child whimpered, hands raised to rubbing at his eyes, " _what did I do wrong? I don't understand,_ " Iruka felt his heart break at the sound of the child's whimpering, fear dripping from every word as he spoke, rubbing at his eyes as if the tears wouldn't stop falling. " _I'm scared, I'm scared,_ " Iruka took in a deep breath and approached the mound and miasma formed child, whimpering and scared as it repeated itself over and over, the true thoughts of the boy everyone feared.

"Naruto-kun," Iruka called gently, the child continued to whimper, "Naruto you're safe, I'm here and I won't let anyone hurt you." The small child lifted its head, his yellow eyes still dripping liquid energy as tears, the color of spring leaves, "I promise Naruto, no one here is going to hurt you." Iruka opened his arms out wide and smiled at him, "I'll protect you!"

" _I'm scared,_ " the child whispered, the miasma started to fall apart like dust, filtering towards the ground and disappearing into the darkness of the night. "I'm scared," Naruto stood inside the miasma form, curled up and crying like he was five again, afraid of the adults who hated him but wouldn't tell him why.

"You don't have to be afraid," Iruka replied, "I said I'll protect you, didn't I?" Naruto sniffed and nodded, slowly rising to get down from the mound, cradling his left arm while he was at it. Once he was standing on the earth he looked up at Iruka unsurely, tears still rolling down his cheeks, blood still rolling down his arm, but before he could register it, Iruka was in front of him, wrapping his gray sheathed arms around him.

"You don't have to be scared Naruto," Iruka whispered to him, "I'll protect you, no matter what." Naruto started crying again, burying his face into Iruka's neck as he started to wail in his teacher's arms, unconcerned with the army of shinobi surrounding them. Slowly, as if he was unsure, one of the Anbu agents steadily walked towards Iruka and Naruto, crouching a little further away from Iruka the man waved as Naruto looked at him with bright ocean blue eyes.

"Hello Uzumaki-san, I'm called Inu," The man said gently, "is it okay if you come with me for a little while?" Naruto ducked his face behind Iruka's shoulder, renewed fear consuming his glassy eyes, his head shaking quickly.

"I'm sorry Inu-san," Iruka said, patting Naruto's head, "I'm afraid he doesn't trust adults very much." The man didn't have to ask to know the reason, it would seem that civilians still didn't like him.

"I see," the man sighed as if disappointed, "will you follow me to the hospital then? We need to treat his wounds and change his clothes," the man informed him

"I understand," Iruka replied, looking down at Naruto and frowning at the blood staining his clothes. "Can you stand Naruto-kun?" The blonde didn't respond, a look at his face was all that was needed to see that he was fast asleep again. Shaking his head with a smile, Iruka adjusted his hold and carefully stood up with inu's help, Naruto sleeping soundly in his arms.

"We'll come with you captain," Inu turned at his second in command, "I'm sure Inoichi-san and Ibiki-san can investigate this area on their own."

"Alright then, let's go," Iruka followed the agents out of the forest and through the crowd gathering around the edge of the forest.

"Naruto-kun?!" Iruka looked up and immanently wheezes as a body slammed into him, nearly knocking him clear off his feet.

"What happened?" A young woman snapped out angry in Naruto's dazed blue orbs

"Uh, Ms perhaps you sh—"

"I'm a medic F-off!" She screeched at him, the agent looked at his commander as if he expected the gray haired man to do something. Naruto smiled welcoming at the woman and wrapped his arms around her neck, letting her take hold of him, her right hand hovered over his back and flared bright almost blinding green.

"Don't look at me kohai," the man drawled, "I warned you about pissing off medics, you're on your own."

"Iruka," the woman said slowly, her face paling, "run," she was suddenly on the roof, racing towards the hospital for all she was worth. She went to jump again but her foot slipped and to save Naruto, she twisted midair and landed on the lower roof. She hissed at the pain flaring in her ankle and then gasped as she felt herself beginning to fall back words. Her fall was stopped by two agents on either side, pulling her back up onto the roof and helping her stand.

"Thank you," the woman murmured, adjusting her old on Naruto and started to move forward again.

"What's your hurry Ms?" The young man asked her

"Naruto needs to be healed, that's what's wrong!" The woman snarled at him, "or did you not notice that he's still bleeding?!" She started running again, ignoring the pain in her ankle as she ran and jumped repeatedly until she reached the hospital.

"Nohara-san! We've got a red flag with internal injuries!" The woman shouted as she burst through the doors and tried to skid to a stop, but ended up landing on her rump and sliding straight into the reception desk denting it with her back. The man in question hurried around the desk and put two glowing green hands onto Naruto's back, frowning at the injuries that welcomed his 'sight'.

"Alright I got him from here Nao-san, tend to your own injuries," the man ordered pulling Naruto out of her arms and setting him down on the nearest stretcher

"But I can help!" Nao shouted as she pulled herself to her feet and started to follow him. The man snapped around and tapped her in the middle of her forehead, she blinked and collapsed backwards into the surprised arms of the Anbu captain who stayed on her heal all the way into the hospital.

"You can't even heal yourself," Nohara replied, walking away from the knocked out woman, "take her to an empty room and a nurse will tend to her injuries."

"oka~y," Inu said slowly, hefting the woman into his arms

* * *

In the western forest standing alone before a broken wall, Inoichi stared numbly down at a familiar light pink senbon with a cute little cherry blossom decal on the end. He got Sakura the practice senbon last year for her birthday, there were only ten in the set and he found five in the sleeve that got cut off and four scattered at the other scene where she and Ino fought together. Here two dozen feet from a broken wall, he found the last member to the set, sitting alone in blood stained mud, the feint touch of familiar chakra at the end beside the blossom was what called him so far away from the scene of Naruto's fight. They still didn't know who hurt Naruto or if that person was the same one who killed his daughter and took Sakura. It seemed as if they didn't know anything, like the man in the cloak was laughing at them while they stumbled blindly in the dark.

"Inoichi," he turned at the sound of his name, Shikaku stood beside Ibiki, both with down cast eyes.

"What is it?" Inoichi asked, slowly Shikaku lifted his hand, showing him the ragged crimson ribbon with the sowed on white cherry blossom sitting inside a white circle on the end

"I'm sorry," Shikaku whispered as Inoichi slowly took the ribbon from him and stared at the red liquid that stained his hands as he stared at it. They found Ino white wrap stained red, they found Sakura's hair tie dripping with red, what else would they find drenched in red?

"We also found a shoe," Ibiki said lifting up the mentioned item, "we think it's—"

"Someone else's," Inoichi interrupted, staring at the blood marring its edge, "Sakura-chan and Ino were both wearing white wooden sandals with red straps. That's a boot" Ibiki stared at the little dark boot with little purple flowers wrapping around its edge, then looked up at Shikaku with wide eyes.

"Another girl!" Ibiki nearly dropped the boot as they both took off back to where they found it, searching for more clues about this newest possible victim.

…

* * *

…

At some point after Naruto's departure, Ami pushed herself up into a slightly higher position then the other two girls laying between her and the door, Sakura was laying on her belly and Ino on her back, both as pale as new snow. Ami tried to keep her eyes open and on the door, tried to keep awake so she could listen, tried not to fall asleep for the sake of seeing Naruto return. But when the bright red room was suddenly glowing in malevolent orange and filled with a strange haunting laughter, the kind that came from nightmares and horror movies, she began to fear she had fallen asleep to dream about the man wanting to kill them. she felt a presence enter the room, felt the soft brush of skin cross the expanse of her neck like feathers, it then trailed slowly down to her hand and then further down to run across her legs. Ami turned her head slowly towards the person who entered the room without passing through the only door into the room, she found herself staring at a boy, a boy who appeared to be a red haired, red eyed version of Naruto; except he didn't have a single scar on his face. The boy's smile turned predatory, revealing inhumanly sharp canines and making his haunting crimson eyes dance like firelight.

"Don't be scared," The boy murmured crawling onto the bed to tower over her, "I won't hurt you." Ami felt like a rabbit caught in the jaws of a wolf, the boy lowered himself until his mouth was brushing the sensitive skin of her neck, his hands moving to support his weight over her.

"Well… much," he bit her neck and her reaction was instantaneous. Ami screamed, something like fire consumed her entire body from the boy and she knew by the soon joined screams from Sakura and Ino that they too were soon consumed by the fire that the boy gave them. The feeling was indescribable at first, the pain so strong that Sakura's screams lasted the shorted, feinting soon after she started. Ami could feel the boy still hovering over her, still smirking against the rapid pulsing of her heartbeat in her neck, still laughing demonically in her ear.

Ami didn't know what the boy was doing to them but she knew their drowning in an ocean of endless pain was his doing

…

* * *

…

Iruka stood in front of the class, they were silent and curious, watching as other classes entered the auditorium for the unexpected school wide announcement. It was just after Halloween break and some of the kids were still on sugar highs, but knew that the expression on their always smiling teacher's face was cause for concern, all because he never frowned in front of them. Once all of the classes were present and everyone was silent, the principle stood from his seat and addressed the entire academy population.

"Now I'm sure all of you have already heard the news during break, I'm here to clear up some misunderstandings about the rumors." The old man coughed to clear his throat, "the rumors that three of your fellow students have died during Halloween break..." Everyone stilled, straightening in their seats and focusing on the old man addressing them, none of the children present had ever paid do much attention to the soft hearted old man before, "Are unfortunately true." The silence was broken by hundreds of rushed, hurried whispers. Iruka took in a deep breath and turned to the table beside him, reaching out for the edge of the nearest black cloth.

"The victims are as follows: Ino Yamanaka, Sakura Haruno and Ami." Iruka removed the black cloths over each of the photos, revealing the smiling faces of each girl as their names were called. He knew without speaking that his students were the ones who were silent, quiet enough to draw the attention of the other teachers. He didn't need to look to see that they were slowly breaking, the information slowly seeping into their minds, their realities slowly cracking as they tried to fight back with their own excuses. But soon enough, one of the girls broke and she started to cry, leaning against a friend who was still to numb to do anything more than pat her back. Then, like a crack in a dam turning into a fissure, the rest of his students slowly began to realize that it wasn't a joke, that this wasn't some test they were expected to pass.

This was reality and the two bubbliest girls they knew were no longer there to make their classroom light up with sunlight

"Victims?" One of the older kids shouted, jumping to his feet, "are you implying that they were murdered?"

"Unfortunately that is a possibility," Mizuki answered evenly, "Ino-san and Sakura-san both tried to protect Ami from a very bad man, unfortunately we have no way of knowing if they succeeded."

"Mizuki," Iruka hissed, "they don't need to know that."

"You want to keep that from them?" Mizuki asked with a frown

"Iruka is right, Mizuki," the principle interrupted the fight before it could begin, "you've over stepped your bounds again. Remain silent or pack your things."

"...Yes sir," Mizuki bowed his head and took a retreating step back

"Who did they fight against?" Iruka recognized an older Yamanaka, rising to her feet with trembling fists

"The man who hurt them has already been taken care of," the principal answered, "none of you have to worry about him." The girl didn't look convinced, she continued standing, glaring at him defiantly. Her neighbor soon tugged on her wrist and she sat down, still trembling even as he wrapped one arm around her shoulders.

"To make sure this doesn't happen again, we've enlisted the aid of a Jonin," the Principal continued, "his name is Maito Gai, he will be in charge of your gym classes from now on. We've also enlisted the help of several therapists to coop with this lose, feel free to see them whenever you wish. That concludes this announcement." Iruka noticed imminently that as the students all started to shuffle off towards the exit leading to the rest of the school, one little blonde turned away from the crowds and left the auditorium through the doors leading outside. A glance at the principal reassured him that he could go after the oddly silent boy and leave the rest of his morbidly quiet students to the old man. Taking in a deep breath, Iruka turned and hurried out the door, following his illusive student into the nearby grove where most of the kids went to have lunch during summer.

"Naruto!" Iruka shouted, "Naruto slow down!" The boy slowed to a jog and then stopped running all together, his whole body trembling as he stood in the shadow of a tree. "Naruto… I know you saw what happened to them, so I know you know she f—"

"She's not dead," Naruto murmured, interrupting Iruka, "She's not… I saw her that night…" Naruto started scrubbing at his face, trying to get rid of the tears rolling down them "She… she was laughing!" Iruka slumped slightly, regret filling him as he steady walked forward and reached out to him.

"Naruto—" Naruto spun on his heal and slapped Iruka's hand away, for a moment top stopped. Iruka found himself staring into bright bloody red eyes, filled with tears and misery, a form of agony that couldn't be described in words.

"She's not dead!" Naruto screamed at him, not noticing the change in eye color, "she's not! She can't be dead! I saw her! She was hurt but not dead! She could sti—" Iruka wrapped his arms around Naruto, cutting him off as he held on tightly to the blonde, careful not to agitate his casted left atm. Iruka didn't understand why the Kiyōbi suddenly decided to not heal Naruto but the blonde would now have to learn to live with his sore and itchy arm for a few months. The boy was actually out for a day and a half due to his injuries, no one understood why he wasn't healing; even Hiruzen began to worry. But then suddenly, the medics were able to heal Naruto's internal organs, reporting back that the Kiyōbi was carefully inserting his power into Naruto's body and healing him slowly. Once Naruto's life was out of jeopardy, the demon retracted his power again and let the medics continue tending to his injuries. The only thing they could think of was that the demon decided to only heal Naruto's body if his life was threatened, but not heal the scrapes and bruises, or even broken bones.

"Sensei," Naruto whispered slowly, tears welling up in his bright red eyes

"Halloween night was two days ago Naruto," Iruka whispered, his hold tightening on the red eyed boy, "I'm sorry Naruto, you shouldn't have been forced to watch that happen, not to someone you loved. No one deserves to watch that happen to someone they care about but please remember that she didn't just lay down and give up. She fought back, she tried her best to survive; you saw that. Her effort alone that night should be how we remember her; joyous and cheerful, fighting back when it was time to stand her ground." Slowly, little by little, as Iruka spoke softly just for Naruto to hear, his eyes faded back to their normal summer blue, still over flowing with a sea of endless tears. Iruka pulled back and whipped one tear of Naruto's cheek, smiling softly at the welcoming sight of his summer sky blue eyes.

"Everything will get better, we have to believe that if we want to keep her smile bright and warm forever," Naruto hick-upped and before he knew it he was sobbing loudly, clutching Iruka like a life line. Iruka patted the blonde's back, smiling and relived that demon inside didn't take control, that the demon had been suppressed.

Even after so many years had passed, his mother's words still range true

Words really can change people's lives for the better

* * *

Not too far away from Iruka and Naruto, was another young child hiding behind a tall tree and a thick bush, watching Iruka smile fondly at one uncontrollably sobbing Naruto. She heard every word spoken and had seen the secret Naruto carried inside, the secret Iruka just kept hidden even from the container. She watched them for a moment longer, her heart breaking as she realized that there was nothing she could do for the boy who's rescued her several times already and yet didn't remember her. He was kind and warm and it broke her heart see the sunlight of the village become dim and over shadowed by misery. She looked down at the small white bag held in her hand, the bright red scarf she's had now for three years was finally repaired enough to be returned to the rightful owner but she was scared to do it now. He was with Iruka, crying over the loss of the person he loved most, perhaps she should wait until another day, when he wasn't so overwhelmed by grief. She looked back at the two kneeling on the cold ground, then turned away and hurried back to the auditorium; she snuck back into the crowd of her classmates without being missed by anyone. As she and her class began to follow the principal back to their classroom, her class walked past the three blown up images of the deceased girls sitting on the large table for the school to see. Like many others in her class, she stopped and stared at the images, only she didn't stay long. She found her eyes moving from the image of Ami looking curiously down at something in her hands, to Ino smiling at a bouquet of brightly colored flowers, to Sakura smiling at the camera man. Her eyes locked onto the bright red ribbon sitting in Sakura's hair to dropping down to the bright red scarf sitting in her white bag, then back up to the red ribbon.

"Hinata-chan," she felt someone tug on her hand and she looked up to see Kiba smiling sadly at her, "come on, we'll be left behind." She nodded numbly and followed him past the black table and out the doors of the large gym room, the hall was crowded and they stopped several times to wait for a group of kids to move far enough apart to squeeze themselves through. Along the way back to class, Hinata and Kiba passed the open doors of the library, she stopped for a breath of a moment, her eyes widening as she found herself staring at the image of a pink haired girl sitting at the nearest desk with a book in hand. Then the girl was gone and Hinata was down the next hall, just paces away from their classroom door, where they would wait for Iruka to return with Naruto in hand. Entering the room with the rest of their class, Kiba and Hinata both went to their normal seats in the back, watching the rest of the class silently. Most of the girls were crying, they were friends with Ino and Sakura, almost none of the boys were crying because they were friends with the girls but not close enough to know how to feel about them being gone from their lives. Towards the middle of the room, close to the window, was a single desk, empty of anyone daring to sit in it. Hinata looked at the desk and saw a memory of Sakura and Ino giggling together, Sakura with a book in hand trying to do her assignment and the blonde using the book as some kind of shield to not get caught by their teacher. Even Ami's normal seat, right behind Ino, was void of anyone's presence, the two girls sitting on either side of Ami's seat, were crying softly, trying to be quiet. When Hinata looked at that seat, she could see Ami staring in complete boredom down at the black board, her face held in one hand while she tapped her pencil annoyingly against the desk top with the other.

At the front of the room, the principle watched all of them silently, as if trying to decide something. It looked like he tried to continue the lesson Iruka had set out for the day but decided against it, he listened to the students try to contain their heartache but eventually sighed heavily. He stood up from the front desk and opened his mouth but before he could speak, he was interrupted by Iruka opening the classroom door with one blood-shot, puffy-eyed little blonde beside him.

"I'm sorry sir," Iruka apologized, "it took a while for Naruto calm down enough to return with me."

"I see and no need to apologize," the principal replied, "I was just about to dismiss the class for the day."

"Huh?" Iruka blinked at him, watching the old man bob his head in thoughtful consideration

"Yes perhaps I should excuse all classes for the rest of the week," the old man said as he moved to leave the room, "Go ahead and let your students leave Iruka-san, there's no point in trying to teach them in that kind of state."

"Ah, yes sir," Iruka agreed, stepping aside to let the old man pass. He turned to address the rest of his class and was surprised to see that all of them had already grabbed their bags and were slowly making their way down the ails to line up in front of him, waiting to be excused for the day. At the other side of the classroom, Iruka watched as Naruto put on his jacket, through his bag over his shoulder and jumped out the window, running for all he was worth away from the academy.

* * *

Inoichi sat calmly in his seat, staring coldly at the young man sitting across the table, staring back at him. They've been having the staring contest for a few hours now, the only reason Inoichi wasn't walking through the man's head was because Inoichi didn't trust himself to not destroy the young man in the process.

"We've been here all night," the young man said suddenly, "are you going to charge me with something or stare at me to death?" Inoichi continued staring at him, remaining silent, which only served to unnerved the young man further.

"Why did you do it?" Inoichi asked suddenly

"Do what?" He asked tiredly

"Why did you kill three ten year old girls?" Inoichi elaborated, setting three pictures on the table before him. The young man pulled pictures closer to him and separated them to get a look at three smiling girls staring up at him with sparkling eyes.

"Never seen them before," the man answered, leaning back in his chair

"Never seen them smiling or you don't recognize them without the blood splatter?" Inoichi asked calmly, tossing another picture onto the table, the man grabbed it and lifted one eyebrow at the two smiling girls, one dressed like a priestess and the other as a ghost.

"Still not ringing any bells," he set the picture down and stared back at Inoichi dully, "are they supposed to mean something to me?" Inoichi hummed, not moving from his place as his eyes flickered to the door. The young man looked at it dumbly, his eyes widening when the door opened and a young woman walked in with two files in hand.

"Sorry for interrupting sir," the woman said bowing slightly in the doorway, "I know you don't like to be interrupted, especially before things get bloody but this is important." She ignored the look the young man gave her, his dark eyes sliding back and forth between the two as if he wasn't sure to take them seriously or not.

"It's alright, what did you find?" Inoichi replied, holding his hand out expectantly for the files.

"The DNA match came back from the needle we found at scene," the woman answered, "there are traces of iodine and coralline, as well as saline tissue and blood."

"...which means what?" The young man asked

"It means that little pinky there took out her murder's eye before he killed her," the woman answered

"Ah, well since I still have both eyes, I think I can leave now," he meant to sound sarcastic but Inoichi stopped him before he could get up all the way

"Not quite brat, sit down," Inoichi ordered

"She just said I can go—"

"No I didn't," she replied, insulted that he would even try to use her as an excuse, "I said the murder is missing an eye."

"You remember the DNA she found on the end of the needle?" Inoichi asked, "It's an almost perfect match to yours."

"Almost perfect?" The man asked, raising an eyebrow at Inoichi

"Where's your twin brother?" The woman asked, the man stiffened looked between her and Inoichi, before sitting back down with an understanding sound escaping his mouth.

"Thank you Moriyama-san, you can go now," Inoichi said as he straightened in his seat, "where is your brother Kado?" The man didn't look like he wanted to answer but he was weighing the pros and cons of keeping his mouth shut. "Kid, do you know who I am?" The man looked up at him, still remaining silent, he slowly shook his head. "My name is Inoichi Yamanaka," he watched as the man's face drained of color, "this one is my daughter." He tapped the picture containing both Sakura and Ino in their Halloween costumes but didn't specify which one. If the man's face was any indication of emotions, he was ready to pea himself in sheer terror. "Why did Kado kill my girls?"

"He... He wouldn't kill them," the man answered slowly, "they're worth too much."

"Worth?" Inoichi repeated with narrowed eyes. The young man flinched, closing his eyes as if expected to be beaten, "care to clarify?"

"Listen if my brother didn't vouch for me, I'd be one of his many corpses hidden somewhere," he replied

"I'm about to turn you into a human vegetable," Inoichi replied calmly, the man paled further

"Alright but you didn't hear anything from me," he said quickly, Inoichi raised an eyebrow and leaned back in his seat. "okay, you see these two here? The sisters?"

"They're best friends," Inoichi drawled, "They're not blood related."

"then why did you—never mind, the point is that they have green eyes, less than five percent of people on this content have green eyes," he paused and tapped Sakura's image carefully, "and this one has naturally pink hair. That's a trait not even a single percentage of people on this land have and those few who do have pink hair all have brown or blue eyes. Her eyes are green, that makes her a one in a million find. She alone would make Kado rich enough that you couldn't get within three clicks of his person."

"Human trafficking," Inoichi said slowly, a dangerous tilt to his voice

"Yeah..." He shrank back slightly, as if expecting to be beaten

"Continue," the blonde ordered

"Blondie, uh, your daughter... She would be worth a few hundred thousand too," he said slowly, as if expected be killed soon, "you don't find platinum blondes every day, I mean look at her, her hair is almost white."

"I'm aware," Inoichi drawled

"And her eyes," he hesitated, swallowing slightly, "they're green and blue, multi-colored, that's even rarer then pink hair." Inoichi frowned at the young man thoughtfully. He raised Ino by himself, he never noticed anything strange with his daughter's eyes before, he always assumed they were blue like her mother's. Curious, Inoichi picked up the school photo and the last picture of his daughter, in the school photo her eyes were bright baby blue, in the last photo she had almost teal looking eyes.

"Its the lighting of the pictures," Inoichi dismissed him and returned the pictures back to the table, the young man sighed and shook his head.

"Dude, your kid has color changing eyes," he said, "most people's eyes don't change all that much with their emotions. Your girl goes from icy blue to spring water green. Not even pinky's eyes change that much, they stay in the green range at all times. Apple green when she's calm and jade when she's happy. That's fairly normal color changes for most people," he tapped at Ami's picture just to draw attention to her, "even this girls eyes remain coffee brown until she's mad, then they turn black. But that's not what Kado likes about her, she's just as rare as the pinkette."

"How do you know?" Inoichi asked

"How many people do you know have naturally purple hair?" He asked back, "I bet you can count them on one hand and I bet every single one of them has brown eyes. These three girls could make Kato richer then the Daimyo, hell, they could literally buy himself the title."

"Who are your buyers?" Inoichi asked, eyes narrowing

"I don't know," he answered, leaning back in his seat

"Who are your contacts?"

"Kato only has me do surveillance on his targets, I'm not allowed to have any contact with the others," rubbed at his neck in irritation. "When he's off for a sell or meeting, I take over the orphanage until he comes back. He usually has a new target for me to follow by then and the pattern repeats."

"So your literally expendable," Inoichi drawled unimpressed with the information, "what did he do with my girls?"

" _If_ he has them, then you're never going to find them," he answered, one hand rubbing against his face, "and I seriously suggest you start praying that he doesn't find them."

"Why?"

"Because pinky took his eye," he answered bluntly, as if he thought Inoichi should take that into consideration, "before he left, Kado swore to make her life a living hell for the rest if eternity. If he finds her, he'll never let her go, he'll take enjoyment out if torturing her _daily_."

"Why do you work for him?" Inoichi asked slowly

"...He's my brother," he shrugged helplessly. Inoichi knew in that moment that despite the young man's loyalty to his brother, Kado would leave him to the wolves in a heartbeat and the man knew it. Inoichi left the interrogation room with the knowledge that his child was missing, a monster was lose, and he still had to talk to Sakura's parents. Speaking of which, they were the first people he met when he left the staircase and entered his office courters shared with Ibiki, Shikaku and a dozen other investigators. They were standing in front of his desk, waiting patiently for his return and the second the mother saw him, terrified hope shinned in the woman's eyes. He took in a deep breath and started to walk towards them, drawing the father's attention instantly. Something on his face must've given away the bad news because the mother collapsed into the nearest chair, trembling uncontrollably with both hands wrapped around her mouth as if to contain her barely held back screams.

"Do you have news of my child?" the pink haired man asked, turning dagger sharp, icy blue eyes onto Inoichi. His too controlled tone of neutrality gave the blonde man the impression of a seasoned shinobi with one too many brushes with death, that or a really stubborn business man. Inoichi glanced down at the woman, staring into her heartbroken watery jade orbs partially obscured by shoulder short curly white-gold hair.

"I'm afraid we've been unable to find your daughter," Inoichi answered the man slowly, "We believe she's still alive."

"Oh thank Kami," the woman breathed, relaxing like jelly in the chair

"Once winter comes there will be no certainty of that," the man replied courtly

"Dear," his wife said softly, almost as if she would scold him

"That is the truth Tsubaki, the sooner we accept that the less disappointment we'll have to face when they find the child's body," he replied, his wife slumped, fresh tears filling her jade eyes

"You're talking as if she's already dead," Shikaku spoke up, frowning at the man, "Don't you have hope for her survival?"

"There is no point in hoping for the unavoidable," he replied

 _No wonder Sakura-Chan slept over so often,_ Inoichi thought, frowning at the man thoughtfully

"Why haven't you said her name yet?" Ibiki asked, turning in his seat to look up at the tall father standing across from his seat, "you keeping saying 'child', not even 'girl' or 'daughter', why?" Tsubaki looked down at the ground sadly, refusing to look even at her husband. Her reaction was enough to pique the interest of Inoichi and his teammates, curious about the world this small bubbly little girl lived in.

"She is my child," the man replied courtly, "it goes undisputed her relation to me. It does not matter what I call the child so long as I acknowledge that she is mine."

"She's not a vase," Inoichi said without thinking, sounding as insulted as any normal father would be, "she's your daughter and she has a name, why don't you use it?"

"Are you going to stand there all day and interrogate me or are you going to find the man who took my child?" he asked, staring dully right back at him, "if you have no further information to give us, then we'll take our leave now."

"Dear," Tsubaki whispered

"Now," he ordered walking away without seeing if she would follow

"I'm sorry," Tsubaki said as she rose and began to follow her husband

"Why is he like this?" Inoichi asked before she get too far away, "he acts as if she's some kind of object to be retrieved."

Tsubaki sighed and shrugged with a sad look on her face, "Atsuhi-kun wanted a boy."

* * *

Naruto ran through the streets as fast as he could, terrified that he nearly lost it in front of Iruka, almost telling him everything he swore to keep silent about. He ran through the streets of the village, taking confusing routs and last minuet turns, until finally he was alone long enough to use the transformation jutsu, being engulfed in white smoke before he exited the next ally. Then he slowed his run down into a walk, trying to even out his paces to appear calm and collected. When he started to pass a glass store front, he paused to look at his reflection and stopped to stare, amazed that his rushed technique came out so professionally. Staring back at him was a perfectly white-gold almost platinum haired girl with snowy white skin with positively liquid amethyst eyes. He didn't even have his scares on his cheeks, they were replaced with a light dusting of pink because of the cold air nipping at them. He almost looked like a normal ten year old girl with his thick black pants, navy blue woolen coat with the high collar and black gloves, even his dark bag looked perfectly normal sitting calmly against his hip, its long gray strap neatly tucked in place between his arm and large unmistakable feminine chest. He blinked slowly at his reflection before signing heavily and turning to walk away, as if he was disappointed with something. He didn't get far before he accidently bumped into another person, he stepped back, hands raised peacefully.

"I'm sorry!" He started, his voice high and squeaky, like a mouse learning to speak the human language.

"It's okay," an older woman was standing in front of him, smiling softly at him as if her smile could distract him from the sadness in her soft jade eyes. "What are you doing out here all alone little girl, shouldn't you be at home?" He looked nervously up at the tall imposing figure of a man beside the woman, his hair may have been a dull pink but he still looked ready to clean someone's clock.

"Oh... Uh, I'm on my way now, school let out early for us," he answered, blushing a little and stepping back

"Are you attending Konoha Culinary Academy?" The man asked, his voice low and cold, as if he was an ice carving that got painted to appear human.

"Oh uh, yeah," he answered, figuring that would end the conversation, he didn't even know the village had one of those. "How'd you know?"

"Do you know a young girl there named Sakura Haruno?" He asked instead, Naruto now realized these two adults were probably Sakura's parents and that the culinary school had been her reason for remaining in the village. It was a good thing he said yes, he could cover for Sakura still.

"Y-yeah... She's been missing from school for a while now," he answered, he didn't have to act to look down with teary eyes. "Are you her parents?"

"Yes," the woman agreed, almost eagerly, "do you remember the last time you saw our girl?"

"Uh-huh," he answered honestly, "two nights ago during the Halloween celebration. I saw her at the ice cream stand with Ino Yamanaka, they were supposed to meet me in Oak park to watch the puppet play there but they never showed up."

"Did she seem happy?" The man asked, his voice didn't sound as cold as before, he almost sounded like a normal father

"She was laughing," he answered truthfully. The woman wrapped her arms around him suddenly, hugging him tightly, as if in thanks for his words.

"Thank you," the woman whispered to him, "thank you so much..." she pulled away at the soft touch from her husband and the couple watched him bow politely before walking down the street, being greeted easily by another girl about her age, the two exchanged a quick hug and continued down the road.

"Ino Yamanaka," the woman whispered thoughtfully, "the man we spoke to just now… his name was Inoichi Yamanaka."

"Yes, I noticed as well," he said evenly, walking forward again

"Officers aren't supposed to work on cases that are directly related to them," she whispered, leaning into her husband as they began walking back to their hotel, "his daughter is missing too. Our children were friends…" he could say nothing that wouldn't be stating the obvious, so he settled for kissing her temple.

* * *

"Thanks Kiba, how'd you know it was me?" he asked as he ran, looking at the equally disguised boy in confusion

"You can't hide from this nose," Kiba answered, grinning mischievously at him, "hay, how hard is it to run with extra weight?"

"Shut up!" Naruto hissed, glaring at him, "At least I'm not extra flat!"

"Hay it's not my fault this is as close to sis as I can get!"

"You're mimicking your sister? Dude that's sad,"

"Shut up!"

"Later!" Naruto laughed, dodging the punch easily and taking off in a new direction, disappearing into the crowds like smoke in mist.

"Ch, idiot," Kiba pouted turning on his heal to run in a new direction but only ended up spinning into someone's chest, "Ack! I'm sorry!" Kiba shouted in a high squeaky voice, only to pale at the sight of two familiar looking females.

"Son," the older woman greeted

"Ototo," the younger teen greeted

"What the hell is this?!" they screamed together, slamming fists into his head before he could escape.

"Hm?" Naruto turned around at the sound of angry female voices, seeing no one targeting him, he shrugged in his feminine disguise and started again in his previous direction. After dropping his disguise in an ally way he quickly ducked into his apartment building and knocked on his apartment manager's door to hand over a small bag with a bit of money in it only it was his manager's brother how opened the door. Naruto paled at the sight of the older man and quickly dropped the bag at his feet before running out the door before the older man could curse at him. Once he was back in the hall, away from the man who's threatened his life more than once, he quickly moved through several hand signs and re-disguised himself as another girl. The hall mirror across from him, told him that he was a midnight haired girl with watery green eyes and ghostly white skin, dressed in a black kimono with a simple satchel over her shoulder. Deeming the disguise adequate, he walked out of the apartment building and flinched back at the cold of the air hitting him, he then hurried away from the building, hurrying towards the nearest set of trees to block out the wind. In almost no time he quietly slipped into the forest without anyone noticing him and as soon as he couldn't see the road, he released a part of his disguise, revealing his previous dark outfit but still remained in his dark haired green eyed plane looking girl disguise he had when he left the apartment building. Double checking his clothes, he rolled his shoulders to even out the weight of his bag and started running through the forest, agilely avoiding low limbs and raised roots.

Soon enough he was racing towards the broken wall and as soon as he saw it he was jumping over the rubble and racing into the house. He released his disguise the same moment he jumped through the doorway to the stairs leading down into what he guessed to be the basement and not a moment later did he hit that bottom was he slamming open that door and darting in just to close the door again. He leaned against the door, panting heavily, sliding to the floor and resting his arms against his bent knees, bowing his head as he tried to breathe evenly.

"You're back," a whisper soft, sickly weak voice called, he whipped his head up to see Ami smiling sleepily at him, "What happened at school? Does anyone know we're here?" Naruto stood up and hurried to the edge of the bed, his expression enough to answer to silence Ami.

"I'm sorry," Naruto whispered to her, bowing his head in shame, "They said you were missing… and there was a possibility of you being dead."

"…what of Kado?" Ami asked softly

"He got lose that night I tried to take you out of here," Naruto answered, he whipped his nose against his sleeve and looked miserably at her, "He's still free and missing…"

"Then we'll have to stay here," Sakura whispered, making Naruto jerk at her soft whisper, having not realized that she and Ino were both awake, weak like newborns but awake. "We don't have a choice, if we reveal that we're living now, then he'll hunt us down again and this time he won't miss our vitals. He'll kill us for sure."

"So our lives rest in the biggest idiot of our year?" Ino asked weakly, "I certainly feel safe, do you?"

"He's the only one who can protect us now," Ami reasoned, laying back down, "if you want to take your chances with Kado, be my guest." Ino had no response, she just closed her eyes and breathed slowly in acceptance, even Sakura smiled at him unsurely.

"I'll definitely protect you guys," Naruto said with a bright blush on his cheeks, "that's a promise of a life time." Sakura gave a relived sigh, sinking into the bed contently, a smile on her lips as she slipped into sleep.

"Alright then mister guardian," Ino said sarcastically, "what are you going to do now? In case you haven't noticed we're all pretty sick right now, none of us are going to be able to stay here long in these conditions. What are you going to do about our colds?" Naruto blinked at her in surprise, tilting his head to the side curiously, blinking big blue eyes at her.

"What's a cold?" Sakura's eyes popped open, joining the silent the silent staring of disbelief. Naruto just stared curiously back at them, seemingly not understanding the problem.

"...Naruto have you ever been sick before?" Ami asked curiously

"No," he answered honestly, earning a sigh from the purple haired girl

"alright, look around the room for anything that might look like medicine," Ami ordered, "maybe this is a kind of storage room."

 _A storage room housing an empress bed fram with a double wide king size bed?_ Ino thought doubtfully, staring at the bright red sweeps of cloth hanging from the four large posts, surrounding them in an almost perfect crimson bubble. Naruto didn't question Ami as he hurried to the nearest wall and started to examine every nit-knack he came across before putting it back where he found it and moving on. Eventually the girls fell asleep and Naruto kept searching for anything that might be considered medicine, he was mostly looking for anything with a red cross on it. At some point in the night, Naruto rounded his way around the room to the wall farthest from the door but closest to Ami. He looked every book and scroll sitting on the huge bookshelf spanning the entirety of the wall, only this one portion closest to Ami and the bed, there was an un-barricaded section that was almost bare of anything. There were a few books and scrolls here and there, as well as a few other small items, but what caught Naruto's attention the most was a single large red leather bound book with a bright white carving of a circle on its spine, three more smaller circles residing inside it. Curious about the strange book, Naruto reached out to it and tugged gently on its top, only it didn't want to move and remained sitting in its place. Tilting his head to the side, Naruto grabbed the book with both hands and tugged, it still refused to move. Placing one foot on the shelf wall where it wouldn't give out, Naruto adjusted his grip higher on the book and tugged on it with all his weight. Instead of coming off the shelf the book moved just enough to make a clicking noise and before Naruto knew it, he was laying flat on his back and there was an empty space where the shelf was before he fell.

"Ow," he hissed, rubbing at the back of his head, glaring at the revealed room hiding behind the bookcase. Naruto climbed to his feet and stepped into the new room, to his surprise the room appeared to be huge, with a large carving on the floor. Curious, he bent and tried moving the dust off the floor, trying to read the thick scratches carved there. His efforts seemed unneeded at first; the strange lines suddenly flared bright blinding violet, alighting the room and revealing the pattern of the lines instantly. The most interesting thing about the network of lines and swirls was what appeared to Naruto as a small plus sign, like the ones he's seen on little emergency health boxes in the nurse's office. Deciding that this might be a form of medicine for the girls, Naruto turned and sprinted out of the huge room and ran hurried to shake Ami awake.

"Ami, Ami wake up," Naruto said, shaking the girl

"N-Naruto?" Ino whispered, waking up enough to glare sleepily at him, "What is it?"

"I think I found some medicine," Naruto explained, "but I have to carry you guys to it."

"Alright, show me," Ino said, pushing herself up, "I'll decide if it's real medicine or if I have to smack you." Naruto nodded and hurried around the large bed to help lift Ino up, then carried her around the bed and into the room. Ino stared at the large seal with a frown on her face, not sure what to make of it she agreed with Naruto that it might be able to help them heal. Close to the center of the large integrate knot work of lines and swirls, were three large ovals with triangular points at each end and filled with perfectly straight lines sweeping evenly from side to side. Naruto grinned at her and carried her to the large cylindrical shape to the far left side and laid Ino down as carefully as one would lay a glass doll. He watched with wide eyes as the lines in the shape flared brighter before appearing over Ino's skin, as if they formed a tight net right over her.

"I feel better already," Ino whispered in amazement, lifting one hand and looking at the delicate violet lines in amazement, "Quickly get Sakura and Ami in here." She ordered but Naruto was already halfway to the door, running as fast as he could to lift Ami off the bed and bring her in, laying her down in the cylinder shape closest to the exit. Then he hurried back out and carefully rolled Sakura onto her back and just as carefully pulled her onto his back and hurried into the room again and this time ran to the last strange shape at the other side. Backing away from Sakura, Naruto watched worriedly as her pale complexion slowly increased into a slightly warmer look. Deciding that she wasn't as sick as she was before, Naruto hurried to look at Ami and saw that she had regained her healthy tan complexion.

"I don't know what this is but it feels great," Ino said, pushing herself up and giving Naruto a big grin, "Did you find anything about what this thing is?"

"No, as far as I can tell it's some kind of seal," Naruto answered, "like the ones you see on explosive tags or storage scrolls."

"This is not a storage scroll," Ino snickered

"No its way cooler," Naruto agreed, smiling brightly and feeling sky high as the girls began healing faster than he could've hoped. Suddenly, just off to his right, a violet rectangle appeared; curious Naruto walked over and examined it closely. Just as he crouched look at the rectangle, a smooth line split the shape nearly in half and on the left side several glowing words appeared.

"Wha-what is… your… order?" Naruto read the inscription aloud, tilting his head to the side dumbly

"Write in perfect health," Ino snorted, giggling to herself. She was being sarcastic but Naruto took her seriously and slowly wrote the characters for 'perfect' and 'health' into the clear square. When the written side appeared with another question below the first, asking if he wanted the three people inside the seal to have 'perfect health', he wrote in yes. He didn't stop to ask himself how the seal knew there were three people inside the seal; he just figured it was designed for that number of people. The rectangle's glow brightened and dimmed several times before flashing and merging back into the large circle, disappearing from sight.

"Ack!" Ino shouted suddenly, nearly scaring Naruto as he jumped back up, "I forgot the book! It's still at school!"

"You left it at school?!" Naruto shouted in disbelief, Ino turned wide eyes towards him

"It's in the room we all met in last time, in the drawer of the dresser beside the door!"

"I'll go get it!" Naruto said, turning and running out of the room hurriedly.

"When he's in a hurry he sure can move," Ino murmured to herself. She sighed and twisted around to look down at Sakura, worried that her weaker body would take longer to heal then normal. For a ten year old, Sakura was still pretty small as compared to everyone else their age; even the Hyūga girl looked healthy in comparison. She knew that Sakura got sick easily, especially with spring colds, that was why she was so worried; they out in the October cold for so long Sakura could've gotten a really bad cold or something worse. Groaning softly, Sakura's face scrunched up with what looked to be a sneeze, making Ino snicker in amusement at her face. When Sakura opened her eyes sleepily, staring up at Ino curiously, the blonde was beyond relived.

"Hay there sleeping beauty, how're you feeling?" Ino asked, smiling down at her friend

"Sleepy," Sakura answered, "Where are we?"

"Naruto found a secret room in the one we were hiding in," Ino answered, "he says we're in a giant seal and as far as either one of us can tell it's designed to heal. So you should be feeling better any second now," Sakura blinked slowly before raising her hands and looking at the strange glowing violet lines covering her skin. "Don't worry about that," Ino said quickly, "its apart of the seal. I bet they'll go away as soon as we leave the seal."

"Okay," Sakura yawned and looked to her other side, her hands flopping down on top of her stomach, "Is Ami hurt too?"

"As far as I can tell it's just a cold," Ino answered her, "though she does look better now than she did when Naruto brought her in."

"Oh yeah, where is Naruto-san?" Sakura asked, looking back up at her friend

"He's off getting the book I kinda forgot to grab last time," Ino answered with a light blush

"What are we going to do with that?" Sakura asked sleepily, "We don't need it here do we?"

Ino shrugged, "We'll have plenty of time to practice."

"On Naruto?"

"Who else?"

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Sakura frowned at her, "I mean… don't we kind of have more important things to worry about right now then learning how to kiss a boy?"

"Sasuke is not just any 'boy'," Ino chided lightly, "he's the rookie of our year. Not to mention dashing, mysterious, handsome and—"

"Completely alone?" Sakura interrupted

"Not after we learn everything in that book," Ino grinned, "then we can prove to Sasuke that we're willing to be his."

"Ino, he only wants baby-makers," Sakura sighed, her face pinkening, "I'm all for restoring a clan but I don't want to share my future husband with someone else. Especially if he's going to prefer a normal haired girl with normal haired children, then it would be kind of useless to be with him, don't you think?"

"Relax Sakura-chan," Ino laid back down on her belly, smiling brightly at her friend, "Sasuke-kun might want to marry one of us and the other will be his mistress. Not much difference between the two anyways." Sakura sighed heavily, closing her eyes and breathing softly. Ino watched her friend slowly drift asleep and when she was sure there wasn't a waver to Sakura's smooth signature she curled up in her little area and smirked at the lock of pink hair sitting in her vision.

"Don't worry, I don't mind being a mistress," Ino whispered, "he'd marry you for sure. Who wouldn't want someone like you anyways?" Ino drifted off in sleep, never noticing the bright crimson stain on Sakura's cheeks. By the time Naruto returned, the girls were soundly asleep, leaving him bored and with nothing to do but reading a strange book. In the morning Ami was the first to wake up, Naruto greeted her with a plate of pancakes covered in syrup.

"No thanks," Ami said smiling sleepily at Naruto, "I'm not hungry."

"Oh, okay," Naruto sat on the edge of the seal, staring at the plate, lost in thought while Ami still tried to wake herself up.

"Ah, I just realized something," Ami straightened where she sat, her eyes widening, "they'll be looking for us right? It's been two days since the night we 'died' without a trace of our bodies being anywhere."

"Yeah, what about it?" Naruto asked

"Naruto, they'll be checking the forest for us," Ami reminded him, "they'll find this house and us inside it! We have to figure out how to get them away from the forest, search somewhere else!"

"Our clothes," the two blinked and turned to see Ino and Sakura pushing themselves up, rubbing at their eyes sleepily. "Our cloths contain our scent," Ino continued, "we have to change cloths and get rid of these ones..." She stopped and frowned, her face pinching in thought

"We could dump them into Nakao river," Sakura suggested, "it comes from the mountains from the east side of the village. The water will get rid of our scent and any other evidence of where we might be."

"Good idea Sakura-Chan," Ino grinned, "we could even put them into a bag or let them follow the current on their own."

"I suggest using a bag," Ami replied, "it'll float at first but sink after a while. From there the water will destroy any evidence still on them."

"I couldn't find any clothes!" Naruto shouted as he ran back into room, surprising the girls.

"When did you leave?" Ino asked him

"When I realized you'd be needing new cloths," Naruto answered with s nervous smile, "I couldn't find any."

"Try to see if you can't find anything in a neighboring house," Ami suggested thoughtfully

"What?" Naruto asked as he walked forward into the seal, he didn't notice that his foot brushed the edge of a line that separated Ami and Sakura, making the lines between each of the three central 'petals' flare brightly. Naruto yelped as he was tossed towards Ami, the flash of light blinding him temporarily, forcing him to listen to the startled shouts of the girls. Naruto counted to three before lowering his arms and looking up at Ami in confusion, wondering what happened and how his head ended up in her lap.

"Are you okay?" Ami asked worriedly

"Yeah," Naruto answered slowly, Ami sighed in relief, her shoulders slumping slightly.

"We're cut off from Ino and Sakura," Ami sighed, turning to look at the nearest stone wall between them and Sakura, "Whatever you did, you created those walls."

"But I can see Sakura and Ino just fine," Naruto said slowly, his head turned slightly towards Sakura's direction, watching her pat at something in the air fearfully

"It must be because you created them," Ami whispered thoughtfully, "what are they doing right now?"

" _Hello? Sakura? Ami? Naruto? Where are you?_ " Ino's voice answered, Ami sighed and ran a hand through her hair, the blonde's panicked shout answering her question.

"I've got an idea, play along," Before she could say anything to Naruto, he sat up and tackled her to the stone floor, his lips landing on hers demandingly.

* * *

"Hello?!" Ino called loudly, looking at the two walls that replaced her friend and classmate suddenly and without warning a section of the wall in front of her cleared up like glass and she found herself gapping openly at the sight that greeted her. She watched as Naruto pulled Ami into his lap, his hands wrapped around her back to reach under her jacket and started tugging her coat down. Then he pinned her arms to her sides briefly, making her moan and roll her hips into his as he traced nips up her neck. Ami's voice was thick as she moaned, rolling her hips up as Naruto tugged on the string tied at the back of her neck, making her backless dress slip down to her waist. He laid her down on the stone floor and traced kisses down her front, teasing her ruthlessly as his hands wrapped around the edge of her dress and tugged it down to her ankles.

 _Wait till I tell Sakura_ , Ino thought, staring wide eyed at the scene

 _Wait till I tell Ino_ , Sakura thought, blushing madly as Naruto tossed Ami's dress aside, quickly followed by her dark purple coat. Then Naruto pinned Ami's hands to either side of her head, his face lowered to her chest as he kissed and nipped at her, making her arch and moan. Eventually something appeared on the floor and wrapped itself around Ami's wrists, allowing Naruto to move his hands down her body, teasing her with ghost-soft touches and butterfly kisses. Then without any warning he started removing his jacket and shirt, tossing them to the side before working on his pants. Ami whimpered and squirmed, when Naruto moved to push his pants down she spread her legs and planted her feet on the edges of his britches, pushing them further down as he crawled on top of her, kissing her from entrance to belly, to teasing her breasts and then nibbling on her neck before finally kissing her lips deeply. Naruto ran his hands down her body and carefully tugged at the last piece of clothing still attached to Ami's body, rolling it down slowly, smirking in the kisses as she whimpered and rolled her hips against his.

Before Ino or Sakura knew it, they were watching Ami through her head back and scream loudly, the blush staining her face was enough to make both girls realize that the other girl was enjoying the treatment. Naruto bit her collar bones and thumped his hips into hers almost uncontrollably, as if he didn't realize that she was screaming in pain and ecstasy. Soon enough Ami's screams turned into shouts that soon turned into whimpers and pleas, rolling her own hips towards him as if begging for more of his attention. They watched mesmerized as Naruto trailed kisses down Ami's front then gripped her hips tightly, adjusted himself a little and then backed up before slamming down into her again, electing another scream from her. Naruto repeated the process of exiting and slamming in her several more times until he gained a rhythm and then he started adding power behind his thrusts, making the intervals between exits and entrances shorter and shorter with each powered thrust. Just as Ino licked her drying lips, the image started to fade from the wall, showing her nothing but giving her plenty of noises to hear. Making her realize what she was doing and wrapped both hands around her burning face in horror. She never once thought that she was the type to watch couples do such things to each other, it didn't matter if she was surprised and stupefied at the scene, she should've turned away once she realized what they were doing.

 _I know I said practice but I meant kissing only!_ Ino thought to herself, she never stopped to think that things could get that serious between them and him, certainly not to that extent.

"Ino-san," she stilled at the soft voice, turning slowly she stared at her crush disbelieving, "what are you starring at?"

"N-nothing!" Ino answered hurriedly, "what are you doing here?" Sasuke ignored her, his attention turned towards the wall she had been staring intently at.

"Oh, were you watching those two?" He asked, smirking at her knowingly, Ino's face flushed bright red, staring at him in surprised horror. "Heh, I knew it," Sasuke drawled, stooping a little to look into Ino's crimson face, "you wanna give it a try?"

Ino's heart nearly stopped, her face flushed so brightly it glowed in the dim light of the room—then she feinted

* * *

Sakura looked at the wall directly in front of her, tilting her to the side, wondering if something would appear on Ino's wall as well. She leaned back, sitting between her knees, and was going to stand up but felt something warm press against her back. She froze, her eyes widening in fear as she realized that someone had been in the room with her the entire time and she never noticed them. Slowly the person wrapped their arms around her, tugging her to their chest, their head tilted to lay on her shoulder. Sakura tilted her head to the side, away from the stranger touching her, and began trembling when he gently pressed his lips to her neck, right over the vein that was carrying her speeding heart beat through her skull. He dropped his hands down from her shoulders to the knot sitting on her stomach, his fingers sliding through the knot easily, as if he's done it before. Sakura gulped as he pulled the cloth apart slowly, letting it fall into a wrinkled lump around her waist, appearing to be three sizes too large. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders again and kissed her neck teasingly; her hands rose and gripped the edges of her top in a panic. He moved his hands from the opposite shoulders to cover her hands and gently tugged them down, inch by inch, until the cloth was lowered down to her waist. Her hands tightened on the cloth, keeping her arms leveled with her stomach, making her swallow thickly as he slowly uncurled her fingers from the cloth and let it slip the rest of the way down to her waist. Then he slipped his hands slowly up her body, tracing the gooseflesh and curves with ghost like finger tips. Then the male carefully wrapped his arms around Sakura's chest, crossing over her small bust tightly and with no warning, he rose to his full height, lifting her with him so the clothing would slip down to the floor, wrapping around her ankles in endless layers. He knew full well that she was trembling, not knowing what to do, and carefully set hrr down on her feet, guiding her back down to the floor so she wouldn't collapse. Once they were both kneeling on the ground, he let go of her and pulled back far enough to pull his shirt over his head and gently tugged his black T-shirt over her head.

"I can't wait till you're ready," he whispered in her ear, pulling away and rising to his full height, towering over her. He smirked down at her, turned and picked up her clothes, leaving her panting heavily on the floor wondering if what happened was real or not. He walked away from the pinkette and walked straight through the nearest wall, walking towards one very unamused version of himself.

"I can't belief how cruel you are," the other version of him said, his form engulfing in white smoke to reveal a purple haired girl with narrowed brown eyes, "Warn me the next time you come up with a crazy plan like that."

"But your face was so amusing," He replied, letting go of his transformation and grinning at her with bright summer blue eyes, "how are your illusions?"

" _Ngaa!_ " the shout echoed through the air, making him arch an eyebrow at her

"Still going," she replied tartly, "are you going to apologize to Sakura for that?"

"Nope," he adjusted his hold on the clothes, straightening them out over his arm before looking expectantly at her, "how'd Ino do?"

"I asked the question like you said and she feinted," Ami drawled, holding out the large white outfit the blonde was wearing, "Seriously, that sucked."

"At least she didn't say 'yes' and tackled you," he replied, grabbing the layered white Yukata, "hay my jacket fits you." Ami threw her shoe at his face and walked back to her place in the giant seal, tucking her hands behind her to keep the jacket from rising up the back. Ami released the two illusions from her petal shaped stone bed and laid down, turning her back to the snickering blonde as he walked out if the room. The second the door closed, the walls lowered back into the ground, revealing to dazed looking girls.

"Was any of that real?" Sakura asked Ami slowly, her cheeks pinkening lightly as if she was embarrassed for asking the question

"Where did..." Ino looked around in a daze, mumbling under breath too soft for Ami to hear. Slowly the blonde turned to look at her, "where's Sasuke-kun?"

"Where are your clothes?" Ami asked in return. Ino looked down at her bare form, staring dully at her limbs for barely a second, then everything clicked and she screamed furiously into the air.

" _HE'S DEAD!_ "

"By the way Sakura, no,"

* * *

Ibiki grunted as he helped guild his two friends to their rightful beds, Ibiki and Shikaku both agreed that they should go to Inoichi's place and have a drinking night just to unwind a little, they had the next day off anyways. It was a little strange being in his friend's house, typically he would be forced to leave Inoichi on his backyard doorstep for his kid to find in the morning because Ibiki wasn't allowed into the house and Shikaku was typically left on his apartment front door awaiting his wife's wooden spoon wake-up call. After plopping Inoichi into his bed upstairs and ditching Shikaku on the couch with a trash can next to him, Ibiki stretched and shook his head ruefully. He seemed to be the only one sane enough to not to get completely plastered as such he was the only one with a half way functional brain. Currently he was using that brain of his to examine the inside of his friend's house, every wall was coated in dozens of pictures, some without frames, and had nearly as many plants. At first the pictures were of just Inoichi's girl but as she steadily grew older and older, there more of the two of them together, smiling blindingly bright into the camera. Then when ino was about five or six, she started appearing in pictures with a shy little pinkette he knew to be Sakura Haruno. As far as he could tell the two friends were nearly inseperatable, acting more like a couple of un-identical twins then two friends. The hundreds, almost thousands of pictures littering every available counter space and gap on the wall, even coating the refrigerator, were like a story book of the two girls lives. The older they got, the more confident Sakura became, the more boisterous Ino got, the closer the two became. Judging by the pictures on the the living room, Inoichi practically raised Sakura and Ino by himself, spoiling them rotten if he had anything to say about it. Still, as he wandered from picture to picture, he saw one common denominator in all of the photos, something he found a little strange when he first met the Haruno couple that evening.

There wasn't a single image of Sakura's parents, not even in the back grounds of the images

"She died giving birth to Ino," Shikaku said suddenly, nearly startling Ibiki, "that's what you were frowning at right? The lack of Ino's mother?"

"I thought you were asleep," Ibiki drawled, turning to look at his friend, the clan head only smiled thinly back at him. "I noticed that too, I also know he keeps a picture of her on his desk and on the fireplace mantle."

"Ah, so you were thinking of Sakura's parents," Shikaku grunted as he turned himself around to sit on the couch instead of lay on it, he still held his head in his hands. "Can you believe that man? I wanted a girl but you don't see me treating Shikamaru like that."

"To a big merchant family like the Haruno's, if the first born isn't a boy then she's only a bargaining tool," Ibiki replied calmly, "I've met many powerful merchants that acted similarly as Atsuhi-san."

"So have another kid," Shikaku reasoned, "no harm done in having one or two more brats running around calling out for 'daddy' and 'mommy'."

"In a manner of speaking they can't," Ibiki replied, "the more kids a merchant head has, the more he'll be forced to split up or abandon one child in favor of the other."

"That's messed up," Shikaku coughed, "how do you know that anyways?"

"Let's just say I know a guy," Ibiki answered, smirking at his friend

"Uh-huh," Shikaku gave him a disbelieving look, "you see him often in the mirror?" Ibiki wrinkled his nose in disgust

"I'm married but not to my own family, uncle can piss-off in that regard," Ibiki answered with a green expression

"Nice for the complicated family update," Shikaku shot back sarcastically

"Go back to sleep, your drunk," Ibiki snorted and collapsed in the nearest chair, settling in for the night

"Don't tell my wife," Shikaku retorted, flopping back against the couch and passing out instantly. When morning came so did the aching, pounding drums from hell. Ibiki watched numbly as Inoichi carefully walked down the stairs and straight into the kitchen, not long afterwards the smell of pancakes and bacon filled the air, making his stomach rumble loudly. Sighing in mild irritation, Ibiki steadily rose to his feet and walked into the kitchen, plopping down on the nearest seat and cradling his head in one hand.

"What cha cook'n dad?" Ibiki asked sarcastically, he was answered by a plate spinning into a stop right in front of him. The plate had a single pancake looking like a strawberry shortcake with red syrup, two waffles covered in small tomatoes, and two sausages and four pieces of bacon. Before Ibiki could comment on the design of the plate, a children's cup of milk was set in front of him.

"How old was your kid?" Ibiki asked dully

"Ten," Inoichi answered, "I made it without thinking." He added softly, "that's Ino's spot..." He turned back to his cooking, seemingly lost the habits developed over so many years of cooking for two little girls.

"Smells good what's for breakfast?" Shikaku asked as he walked in and sleepily sat down beside Ibiki, he looked down at Ibiki's plate and was suddenly wide awake. "What the hell are you eating?"

"A habit," Ibiki drawled, watching Inoichi spin a plate across the counter at Shikaku, having it stop perfectly in front of him. Shikaku's plate was of two blueberry pancakes covered red syrup, one waffle bathed in small fruit and one piece of bacon. Before either man could blink, Inoichi set down a large glass green cup of milk.

"If these plates are indications of their personalities then the world is doomed," Shikaku drawled

"Why does he get more pineapple then me?" Ibiki asked Inoichi as he dished himself up with the left overs

"Seriously, that's your problem?" Shikaku asked him, a raised eyebrow and smirk twisting his face

"Ino likes cherry tomatoes, Sakura is malnourished," Inoichi answered evenly. "Sakura-Chan is also allergic to some meats so she sticks close to fruits and vegetables just to be safe because she can't pronounce the thing in meat she can't consume. Pineapples are her favorite fruit, she hates tomatoes and she drinks two pints of milk every day so she can avoid taking the medicine that boosts her iron content in her blood."

"She's anemic?" Ibiki asked, stiffening in his seat

"She hasn't had a seizer since she met Ino," Inoichi reassured him, "it typically only happened when she didn't eat for a day or longer and got stressed over something, like her parents coming home."

"Anything else you forgot to mention in the report?" Ibiki asked, using his fork to easily steal one of Shikaku's pineapples when he was looking

"I've added all medical conditions I know of in my report," Inoichi drawled calmly, "I thought favorite foods and colors were properly unneeded."

"It doesn't sound as if Sakura is very close to her parents," Shikaku said thoughtfully, easily stabbing Ibiki's hand when he tried for another piece of fruit

"No, they're always traveling," Inoichi agreed, "Sakura-chan once told me that it feels like she's welcoming strangers into her home once a year then her actual patents."

"If they're that dedicated to their profession how did she get them to agree to get her to go to the academy?" Ibiki asked

"She didn't convince them," Inoichi answered, "she tricked them with a small genjutsu. Being civilians they didn't notice the difference or even suspect that something was odd with the contract."

"So what school do they think she attends?" Shikaku asked curiously

"Konohagakure's culinary academy," Inoichi smirked

"How do you know this?" Ibiki asked curiously

"I'm a Jonin and they're gossiping little girls," the blond answered blandly, "not that hard to ease-drop on them." His friends shook their heads and started eating their breakfast, Ibiki tried stealing a piece of pineapple a couple of times but Shikaku blocked him easily.

* * *

"Are you sure of this Moriyama-san?" Hiruzen asked, straitening in his seat, "and you sure it's theirs?"

"Yes sir," she answered courtly, "the clothes inside are a perfect match to the girl's last seen outfits. Plus the tears and rips are all accounted for from the video surveillance lady Uzumaki experimented with before her demise."

"How badly damaged is the evidence on the clothes?" He asked, "can we triangulate their location from anything?"

"I'm afraid not sir," she sighed, "the water wiped away all traces of scent and the backpack we found them in was full of mud and sand from the river, it could've been dumped anywhere."

"What about the strap? Can you get anything from that? DNA maybe?"

"Sorry sir, they melted the strap in some areas, doused it in alcohol and wore black leather gloves when they dumped it," she lowered her eyes and bowed her head in shame. "I've also reconstructed their injuries from the video and their cloths... I'm afraid the news isn't good."

"Are they living?" He asked tiredly, beginning to feel too old for the job

"Highly doubtful sir," she answered regretfully. "According to the cuts and blood stains still remaining on the clothes, I can say that Ms. Yamanaka died the swiftest, Ms. Haruno drowned in her skin and Ms. Ami... I believe that at some point they might've done internal damage. I can't tell from her clothes but it's a fifty-fifty chance that she's still living."

"So one might be living," Hiruzen sighed heavily, "where were their wounds?" The young woman handed her findings over to him silently.

"I believe that Kado put his sword in Ms. Yamanaka's heart, she would've died in seconds," she turned away when Hiruzen looked at the image of the tattered priestess uniform. "Ms. Haruno was stabbed in the back repeatedly. Based on her height, weight and the angle of the cuts and blood pool-stains, I believe that at least one of the blades punctured her lung. As well as the blood stains from both Ms. Yamanaka and Ms. Ami present on her clothes, I believe that both Ms. Ami and Ms. Haruno were together at one point."

"Could Sakura-chan have been stabbed trying to protect Ami?" Hiruzen asked, running one hand over his old withered face

"Anything is possible sir but I'm afraid that without their bo—remains, without their remains, I won't be able to know what exactly happened at their time of death. There is something else sir," Moriyama added, turning away from the door to address him fully, "the blood staining Naruto-kun's clothes, eighty-five percent of it is Ms Ami's, mixed in with a splash pattern from Ms. Haruno. I belief he was standing beside her when she was stabbed, and I found smears of Ms. Ino's blood mixed in with Ms. Ami's, as if it was transferred there by the later."

"I understand," Hiruzen sighed, "Thank you Moriyama-san, you can go now."

"Yes sir," she started to leave but stopped at the door, turning slightly she asked one last question, "Sir… about Ms. Ami…"

"There is only so much we can do before winter comes," Hiruzen told her, "if we don't have anything containing her scent then we can't send out trackers and sadly, eventually other cases will come, eventually she will be forgotten."

"…they got rid of her clothes," Moriyama said slowly, "the other two are certainly dead. Given that information it would be understandable if she was an accidental death. That would explain the lack of extensive damage to her clothes like there were to the other two girls. It is possible for her to be dead… but I would need her body to confirm that."

"Thank you Moriyama," he whispered, closing his eyes and sighing heavily

…

* * *

…

 **I wasn't originally going to make this more then a one shot but I already have a second chapter in the making**

 **I'm gonna do some fine tuning before I post it though, plus I'm not so sure if I want to use it anymore... there are a lot of time skips and I don't think it flows all that well... I don't think this is gonna be one of my better works and it already isn't my favorit so any possitive reviews would proberly help out with my lack of confidence in this one**

 **Who knows it might end up like another 'There Is A Reason' :)  
**

 **Thoughts are helpful**

 **Opinions are Wonderful**

 **Helpful criticism is lovely! Just don't cripple me okay?**

 **And don't forget to rate and review**

 **pages 53**


	2. Chapter 2

**Fate, Destiny And Existence**

Chapter 2: moving on

Koomahana

 **I did a massive re-write on this one, though the first half is pretty much the same as the original second chapter**

 **I didn't like the original one anyways**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site**

 _Thoughts_

 _Paragraphs are memories_

…

* * *

…

Several weeks after the announcement of the three girl's deaths

…

Time seemed to pass by on fast forward and before Iruka knew it, it was raining and he was attending a funeral for the girls who were killed in the western forest. Then it was trying to snow and he was staring at a beautiful mural in front of the school depicting the three girls killed some months before. Then it was spring and he was listening to rumors about ghosts in the western forest. Then he was grading the yearly test, staring in amazement at the grades presented to him. Naruto had improved in the past months almost tenfold in his academic scores and his Taijutsu is almost on pare with some of the clan kids, by the time he was ready to graduate, he should be the rookie of the year.

...

Hiruzen sighed as he read the resignation letter, staring up at the tiered looking blonde man who stood in his office, looking as if the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. It had been months, winter came and went with no improvements in the investigation; it was as if time stood still since that day they found the clothes in the river. There was no longer a possibility of the girls being alive, they were simply waiting to find their bodies now and after so much time has passed it was beginning to seem as if they couldn't even find that much.

"You are sure of this Inoichi-kun?" Hiruzen asked gently

"I can still come in and work if you need me too," Inoichi murmured, "I know I can't just quite out of the blue. The habit is there and it'll always be there…but I can't keep doing this, keep hoping for something that'll never change…I'm sorry Lord Hokage."

"It's okay," Hiruzen smiled sadly at him, "you've held up better than any other parent would have if placed in your shoes." Inoichi smiled sadly back at him, dark rings smudged the underside of his eyes, his cheeks had thinned out and his hair had dulled and paled even further than before and thick white strands were beginning to form in his hair. "I accept your resignation letter Inoichi Yamanaka," Hiruzen said, rising from his chair to look at the man in the eye, "I expect you to train someone to take your place and if a national security issue arises, you will be on the case."

"I guessed as much sir," Inoichi smiled at him great fully, "do you know what I should do with the amount of free time I've been given?" Hiruzen thought about it for all of a few seconds before smiling impishly at the blonde.

"Have you ever heard of Kuramura orphanage?"

…

* * *

…

Time was flowing by almost too fast for him to notice. One day he was repairing the broken wall, spreading the broken chunks out in a circle from the gap, making a kind of line in the ground. The next he was weeding a garden he didn't know he had, then he was arguing with his apartment manager about rent, then bickering with Iruka-sensei about his grades, then harboring the girl's sadist side as they taught him how to read and write properly. Then suddenly he was entering the library for the first time, then he was standing in front of his apartment manager, wondering if the amount of money he gave to the man's brother was a good start to get back into his apartment building. That day, the building manager told him to go ahead and move back in with a smile and that night, after having an argument with his brother, his apartment manager was escorted to the hospital and his brother was hauled off to prison for assault. Fearing he would lose his apartment again, Naruto ran back to the house hidden in the woods and ran sacked it for any change he could find. He found quite a bit and had to put it all in a vase he found with dead flowers inside it, he then carefully carried the full vase into the forest. Reaching the edge he put the vase down and did a quick transformation, picked up his vase and hurried into the village, looking for a coin counter or the equivalent. A glance at a store front told him that he was disguised as his platinum blond, violet eyed girl he's yet to name. He quickly found a merchant store and asked for some help with the change but found himself staring at a familiar pink haired man. Sakura's father easily exchanged the coins for paper bills and even bought the vase from him as well, even giving Naruto a bag to carry the large amount of money. Instead of going to the bank as he promised the man, Naruto ran full tilt to the hospital. After finding the man's room, Naruto released his transformation jutsu and handed the bag over to his building manager.

"Naruto... There's enough money here to cover your rent for three or four years," the man said, staring at the top of the opened bag with wide eyes, "possibly more years if this bag is full of large bills like what I'm staring at."

"Then consider the last six months and the next three years paid," Naruto panted, hands braced on his knees, "or your hospital bills paid."

"...Naruto do you know how much money is here?" His manager asked

"No," Naruto answered honestly

"How did you get this money?" The man asked with a pale face

"Most of it came from a vase I found in the old ruins of the western forest," Naruto answered, whipping the sweat off his chin

"The Uzumaki compound?" He asked in surprise

"Um, yeah, that's the one with the swirls everywhere right?" Naruto asked, tilting his head to the side curiously. The manager sighed heavily and decided to just go with his lead on this one. Then everything was moving in fast forward again. Naruto was spending more time in the broken compound, reading scrolls with Ami and sometimes with Sakura, all mixed up with the occasional practice that Ino lead that was almost always followed by an insult. And before Naruto knew it, he was reading kanji, doing complicated math formulas, and watching his grades at the academy steadily improve.

He never once noticed the sad faces of the people he once called friends or the worried face of his favorite teacher

...

"Hay Naruto you wanna come to the park with us?!" Kiba called out, waving one hand at him, just behind the brunet were a few other boys that he knew

"Not today Kiba! I gotta study!" Naruto shouted back walking in the other direction

"Since when do you study?" Kiba asked himself, frowning as the blonde walked away

"Hay, doesn't he have a crush on someone?" Chōji asked curiously, "maybe if we invite her to come along with a few others, he'll come by to spend time with her and us as a result."

"That's a good idea Chōji but there's one problem," Shikamaru drawled and started to walk towards the park

"Yeah, what's that?" Chōji asked, following his friend

"She's dead," the boys fell silent each one turning to look back at the boy walking away from them with a book in hand. Naruto stopped by the library and picked up a few holds waiting for him and continued on his way back to his apartment. He sat at his desk until sunset, then he grabbed his bag and jumped out his window, carefully sticking to the shadows until he reached the edge of town. Stopping beside a light pole he stared out at an unfamiliar stone as tall as he was sitting before the entrance to the western forest, frowning Naruto stepped out into the open and approached the large slab of white granite.

On its smooth surface it read:

 _Do not stand at my grave and weep;_

 _I am not there. I do not sleep._

 _I am a thousand winds that blow._

 _I am the diamond glints on snow._

 _I am the sunlight on ripened grain,_

 _I am the gentle autumn rain._

 _When you awaken in the morning's hush,_

 _I am the swift uplifting rush_

 _Of quiet birds in circled flight._

 _I am the soft stars that shine at night._

 _Do not stand at my grave and cry;_

 _I am not there, I did not die._

 _In remembrance of_

 _Ino Yamanaka_

 _Sakura Haruno_

 _And_

 _Ami_

 _October 31, XX10_

Naruto stood staring blankly at the grave marker, ignoring the darkening sky and the growing silence surrounding him. Blinking slowly, he formed a hand sign and before the grave maker of the western forest, he transformed into a pretty platinum blonde with amethyst eyes and dressed in a simple light colored dress. He entered the forest calmly, ignoring the cool mist rising from the hot springs to give the forest with a haunted look. On his way to the wall, Naruto found one of the boys from his class walking slowly through the dark misty forest, looking around himself as if he was expecting something to pop out and eat him. Not wanting to startle the boy, Naruto made a little noise, brushing against a bush and stepping on twigs, purposefully making noise to announce his arrival.

"Who-who's there?" the boy stuttered out, turning to look in Naruto's direction, "huh?" the boy stared as a feminine figure approached him in the dark misty forest, walking slow and purposefully. Moonlight filtered in through the branches overhead, showing that her hair was a bright icy-gold and she was dressed in a flowing elegant white dress, her eyes blinked slowly at him as if she didn't see him before that moment.

"Hello," she said in a voice that was whisper soft, the boy paled and then screamed, running out of the forest like the hounds of hell were on his heels. Naruto watched the boy leave with a raised eyebrow, wondering why the boy would scream at the mere sight of him—her, he forgot he transformed into a girl. Shaking his platinum blond head he turned back onto the path and continued on his way, just as the last of the light faded from the sky, he crossed through the entrance in the broken wall. Naruto easily went to the well and drew up a bucket full of water, he set the bucket on the ground and filled up the other two buckets waiting at the base of the little stone well. He easily placed the water tight lids over the buckets and then connected the three straps of the buckets to a large well used stick. Naruto adjusted the strap of his book bag to create two straps instead of one. Then he lifted the three water buckets over his left shoulder and walked through the rest of the yard to the house, where he went straight to the pantry door and then down the stairs, releasing the transformation as he went.

"Hay I'm home!" Naruto shouted, walking into the room where the three girls sat around a large table covered in books and paper work. He didn't remember when but at some point he left for a table and found two, they were small at first, barely even four feet wide and then he realized they opened up and another section of table could be placed in side to nearly double the length of the table. So now the girls had two eight foot long tables to read at, he even found a couple of chairs for them to sit in. Naruto smiled at them as he walked into the seal and placed each bucket at the far end of their little seals, keeping his eyes on the ground because Ino still didn't forgive him for not finding any cloths to wear and had to wait an extra day for him to come back with three extra shirts. Speaking of which it looks like he has to get a bigger T-shirt for Ino again and a longer one for Ami. Hurrying to the middle, between Ami and Sakura to avoid being thumped by Ino, Naruto opened his bag and started delivering the books from the library to their respective girl.

"Sakura-chan I got you those books on chakra control you wanted, Ino here's your books on flowers, their meanings and uses, Ami why did you want a book about rocks?"

"Shut up!" Ami barked, snatching the book from him

"Thank you Naruto-san," Sakura whispered, tucking the three books closer to herself, as if making a wall between her and Ami

"I bet Sasuke-kun would've been faster," Ino said with a pout, opening one book and began reading, "I bet he wouldn't have questioned our tastes in reading material too." She never noticed the stiffening of Naruto's shoulders as he stopped just behind Ami, head turned slightly. That seemed to be the big trend with the blonde, complain about everything he did for them and then compare him to Sasuke.

"Ah, that's right," Ami breathed setting her book down and turning towards Naruto. "You haven't said anything about Sasuke-kun in a while, is he still the top of the class?" Naruto knew the other two girls were listening, anything pertaining to the Uchiha interested them.

"I bet he still wears dark clothes to match his handsome features," Ino sighed dreamily, not keying Naruto speak, "I bet he still has that pale skin and midnight dark eyes."

"He's undoubtedly still the top of our year," Sakura sighed with a smile and blush, "there's no reason why he wouldn't be. No one can beat him in sparing." Naruto didn't hear the conversation between the girls, he just heard them showing Sasuke in praise; endless, meaningless flattery.

"I bet that Sasuke-kun's home doesn't look like this," Ino's voice sounded

"I can imagine Sasuke-kun bringing breakfast into the bedroom every morning," Sakura giggled. Never mind that Naruto tried to bring them food, their favorites, but they all said they weren't hungry. None of them seemed to be hungry any more, Naruto didn't even know when the last time they ate but he knew it was before he found the seal. Before that he was bringing them soup and water, as much water as he could bring them. But now they weren't hungry and they weren't thirsty, they felt sick just looking at the food and water seemed only to be good for dampening their skin when they felt hot.

"Sasuke-kun," Ino and Sakura sighed dreamily together

"Sasuke-kun... He—"

"He's not here!" Naruto bellowed out, cutting Ami of with his echoing voice. "He didn't carry you out of the forest! He didn't take you to a safe place he _knew_ Kado couldn't enter! He didn't treat your wounds! He didn't take Kado away from the wall! He didn't PROTECT YOU!"

"If Sasuke-kun was there..." Ami said slowly, thoughtfully, "then...we wouldn't be here..." Sakura and Ino stared blankly at the purple haired girl's face, as a sensor-in-training Ino knew there was more that Ami was trying to say.

"You mean we wouldn't be here in this cave?" Sakura asked curiously, "Like we'd be at the academy?" Naruto flinched back, tears springing to his eyes, he raced to the entrance and dashed across the red room to burst into the stone room, slamming the door closed as he tan away from them.

"No," Ami answered with a heavy sigh, not looking at the entrance like the other two, "Sasuke would've fought him and eventually he would've died, leaving us defenseless. Kado would kill us after word and you _know_ it would've been so _easy_ for him." Sakura wanted to protest but stopped herself, her fingers ran up her left arm to rest on her shoulder, where she knew a scar from a kunai still remained. Sakura wasn't the best in Taijutsu but she was third best in weapons, bested only by Sasuke and Ami, her aim was always just shy of perfect. That night not one of her weapons made a scratch on Kado, not until he was distracted by Naruto and Ami, when she threw her last remaining senbon at him. Not even Ino's Taijutsu moves worked on him and she was second best in class, for her to not land a mark despite Sakura's efforts to distract and maim was a serious offence to the blonde's pride.

Still the memories made Sakura pause and reconsider her knowledge

Would Sasuke have been able to save them that night or would they all have fallen together in a bloodbath of pain and misery?

...

* * *

…

After the academy, Naruto hurried back his Apartment, grabbing his black bag and changing his clothes again before heading back out. He found a dark alley and easily transformed into his scare less platinum blonde with purple eyes before he dared to walk out into the market. Lately he's noticed that people have been staring and whispering at him more often, so he resorted to using his amethyst eyed female disguise when he decided to go out into the marketplace. Sometimes he bought food for his apartment, sometimes he bought a book he thought one of the girls would like, sometimes he got them bigger shirts when he thought they needed them. Right now he was just stalling so he wouldn't have to see them right away, he was walking through the market, looking at every knickknack he saw. Then he came across a boutique store that seemed to be catered to teenage girls, he entered the store curiously and ended up leaving with a bag full of three new 'nighties' (as Sakura calls them) for the girls. He walked away from the store, wondering why he didn't find that store before, when he bumped into the edge of a cart and almost knocked everything on it and himself down.

"Ow," he hissed in a high voice, rubbing at his sore hip with tears gathering in his eyes

"Are you alright Ms?" He looked up to see a kind looking middle aged man with chest brown hair and matching brown eyes

"Yes, I'm sorry," he answered quickly, stepping back and bowing his head quickly, expecting the man to yell or smack him

"Are you hurt? I have an ice pack you can barrow for a moment," the man suggested, moving back as if he could grab it quickly just for her

"That's okay, I'll be fine," he answered in a femininely soft whisper, stepping away and dropping his eyes to what he bumped; bright shiny, pretty little trinkets greeted his eyes. He stared at them for a moment before moving around the corner to the front to get a better look at the pretty trinkets mixed with jewelry. Almost nothing there was interesting, just shiny trinkets that looked like they were supposed to be girly and cute.

"See anything you like?" The man asked curiously, hope in his voice

"No, not really..." He trailed off, his attention diverted to a small perfectly clear pendent, hanging loosely from a curved wire wrapped in violet plastic, the end of the cord was tipped with the normal clasps of all necklaces.

"Is that real crystal or glass?" The young girl asked, pointing to the small pinky-sized pendent that was as clear as glass

"Ah, its real crystal," the man smiled and lifted it higher for her to see it in the sunlight, "I've had it for three years and no one has taken an interest in it. Would you like it? I'll give you a discount of twenty five percent," he said, as if that would help convince her to get it, secretly he was hoping she would buy it, he was getting tired of staring at it all the time.

"Alright, how much?" After getting the pendent, he hurried through the streets and easily slipped into the forest. Half way to the wall, Naruto came across another boy trying to walk through the forest unheard and failing miserably. Feeling mildly annoyed, Naruto redid his transformation and tossed a few rocks around the boy, making him freak out a little before the forest filled with complete silence. Slowly Naruto stepped out in his new disguise and the boy stared at him in fear for a mini-second, then he ran out of the forest screaming. Snickering to himself, Naruto undid his transformation and returned to walking through the forest. He reached the broken wall and hurried over the rubble before the sun even set, once he was inside he released his transformation and walked down the stairs to the girls calmly. Naruto opened and closed the door to the red room and walked across to the still open doorway to the girls; he peeked in and saw the three of them laying in their own personal petal shaped beds with the violet lines rolling over their skin. Smiling to himself, Naruto carefully walked into the room and silently made his way to the table, setting his bags onto the table, Naruto made sure to push each bag for their intended girl.

"I tried to find something for each of you," Naruto whispered to himself, he turned away from the table and looked at each girl before making his way to the door. At the edge of the bookcase, Naruto looked back at the sleeping girls again, smiling sadly at their misfortune, "I hope you like them..."

Naruto left the underground basement, unaware of the girl's open eyes

"He's an idiot," Ino sighed as she pushed herself up, "he's gonna avoid us until we physically restrain him and explain what Ami meant yesterday."

"Why am I being blamed?" Ami asked as the lines of her petal faded away as she left its limits, "not my fault he left after Sakura's question." She stepped up to the table and looked inside the bag, tilting her head to the side curiously.

"Ah! That's right!" Sakura gasped, jumping to her feet and hurrying to the table, pulling out the cloth inside, "a nightie!"

"That's a nightie?" Ino questioned with a snicker, rising to her feet and putting one hand on her hip, "Where're your wings Tinkerbelle?" Ami was some how unsurprised to see that the blonde had magically switched the T-shirt she was in for the simple silk dress inside her own bag.

"That's not nice," Sakura pouted at her as she pulled off the shirt and pulled on her new clothes, "at least mines not see-through." Sakura pointed out the clear sleeves and borders of the blonde's newest outfit.

"Sure as hell doesn't hide anything though," Ino snickered, shaking her shoulders purposefully, Ami glared at the blonde as she covered her flay chest, knowing the Yamanaka Heiress did it on purpose.

"Hay wait a moment, why'd you call me Tinkerbelle?" Sakura asked as flattened out the skirt of her new dress

"Your slip is designed like Tinkerbelle's dress," Ino sighed, "except its pink and has sleeves."

"Oh," Sakura blinked and looked her friend up and down, her slip was powder blue with a wide square collar to accompany her larger bust with its cloth sowed tightly around her ribcage to accompany her larger bust size, around its wide short sleeves and the mid-thigh skirt where little see-through silk flower patterns that matched her square collar that sat directly across the top of her bust and just inches below her collar bones. "You kind of look like a queen without her crown," Sakura smiled at Ino because that was the perfect description of the blonde.

"Thanks," Ino grinned at her, "Ami what kind of 'nightie'," Ino added just to teeze Sakura, "did he get you?" Ami blushed lightly as she held up the simple design of her new out fit.

"A summer dress?" Ino questioned, "He got you a dress?"

"It's a slip," Ami corrected with a blush. Her 'nightie' was white, mid-thigh length like Ino's and Sakura's, but had no sleeves and had a simple round collar that sat just beneath her collar bones.

"Not much difference in my book," Ino shrugged, "hurry up and change! You'll sweat to death in that thing!" Being the flattest of the three, Amj had been reluctant to change in front of the other two, so she kept the jacket Naruto originally gave her and settled for wearing his wide collared shirts like skirts instead. Huffing in annoyance, Ami huddled under the table and unzipped the jacket, carefully keeping it on her shoulders, she slipped the cloth over her head before stepping out from under the table she let the slip roll down her sides and cover the T-shirt she wore around her waist.

"Seriously Ami?" Ino rolled her eyes, "we're all girls here." Ami made a face at her as she untied the cloth at her waist that kept the shirt up until then, the shirt slipped down to her ankles, leaving her slip to flow gracefully around her knees.

...

* * *

...

Hiruzen sighed and rubbed irately at his brow, the little girl before him was five years old and about as stubborn as Naruto used to be. She had been pestering him for weeks now to tell him where the Shinobi School was so she could attend it, he's been refusing her every single time but his patience was running thin with her. Right now she was standing in front of him, covered in mud, scrapes and bruises; one of his Anbu agents was standing behind her with a fist full of her strawberry pink locks in hand, forcing her to stand on her tip toes. Her bright blue top was accompanied by a well made sea green kimono wrap and black slacks, all of which were torn up. His Anbu agent however, didn't have a scratch on him, the only thing wrong with him was the bright orange powder stain on the side of his mask and chest piece.

"We had a deal," the little girl pouted at him

…

 _"I've already caught up to sissy's class year!" She shouted at him, "What do I have to do to prove I can be a ninja?!"_

" _It doesn't matter what you say child, I cannot take in a civilian merchant heiress as one of my ninja," Hiruzen sighed, "first off I need your parents' permission—"_

" _They'd kill me before that happens," she hissed_

" _And you have no physical strength," he gave her an annoyed look, "don't interrupt young lady, if you wanna be one of my ninja you need to show me respect."_

" _Then let me train in sissy's class!"_

" _You might be smart enough but you have no physical stamina," he give a pointed look at her callous-free hands and pristine kimono, "you don't know any of our Taijutsu, genjutsu or our Heiki jutsu."_

"… _Heiki jutsu?" she tiled her head to the side_

" _Weapons arts," he sighed, closing his eyes and slumping his shoulders slightly as he turned away from her, "hime please go home."_

" _I want to be a ninja!" the girl shouted before he could get too far away, "if I don't know something, show me and I'll learn it!" he sighed heavily and turned back to her, he was serious that he couldn't take her in as a ninja of his village, her father was a wealthy merchant and their biggest financial backer to the village AND he was on the civilian council. If he chose to take his business elsewhere, the village would suffer a great fanatical debt; he could not allow this small child to become a ninja._

" _Alright, if you can touch me, I'll let you into the ninja academy," Hiruzen said calmly, she straightened and stared at him, the same look of consideration and focus as her sister had when observing her opponent in sparing class. As if she was cataloging everything she knew of her opponent and coming up with the pros and cons of every move she could make against them. She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips, frowning up at him as if she thought he was going to disappear or run away from her._

" _I won't move," Hiruzen reassured, "come at me. With all your strength little one." She blinked slowly and readjusted the length of her skirt, using a string to raise the hem and tying it off at her waist. Admittedly, Hiruzen thought that was a nifty trick and a useful one for a kunochi; then she was racing at him, almost as fast as her agile elder sister. A shadow fell on her and she yelped as one of his guards snatched up a handful of her hair, jerking her to a stop and nearly making her feet fly out from under her._

" _You can't even best one of my agents," Hiruzen sighed and turned away, "do not—"_

" _If I can hit him I can join the academy right?" she interrupted, "it's a deal right?"_

" _Now wait a moment young lady," the agent started, holding her away from himself and making sure her feet couldn't touch the ground._

" _It's a promise!" she shouted, struggling in his hold, "If I can hit you with pink paint I can join the academy!" a blade appeared out of her sleeve and she racked it through her knee length strawberry locks, freeing herself. "It's a promise! I will hit you with pink paint! Then I'll be a ninja of this village!" she took off running down the path, unconcerned that half her hair remained in the hand of the S-class ninja she just challenged._

…

"You hit the wrong agent," Hiruzen drawled, a look at the agent had the girl free and her messy pink locks flowed down her back. He was surprised with how long her hair was, it had been weeks since she cut it to get free from his guard but perhaps more time has passed then he thought.

"…His fault for wearing the same mask," she pouted at him rubbing at her sore neck and ignoring the glare from the Anbu Agent, "I still hit one of your agents, it counts, I can go to the academy now."

"Young lady—" Hiruzen started, only to stop as another voice interrupted him

"What academy?" the voice was cold and hard, making even Hiruzen stiffen at the voice, the little girl jumped and turned to look behind herself at the open door, where her very cold looking father stood beside her worried looking mother.

"Th-the ninja academy," the girl stuttered out, shrinking into the agent's side, as if she was afraid of her father. Her mother took in a sharp gasp, her eyes widening and filling with water, her hands wrapping around her mouth as if she was horrified by the whisper soft stutter of her child.

"…If you become a ninja then I will disown you," her father said courtly, "chose now child." Hiruzen straightened in his seat, his eyes growing wide, not able to belief the words of this man-this _father_. He already buried one child and he's willing to disown another? Did he have a heart?!

"I-I…" the little girl stuttered, "S-Sissy—"

"Speak up girl," he ordered coldly

"Sissy saved my life!" the little girl said loudly, closing her eyes and fisting her hands at her sides, "She chose to be a ninja knowing you'd disown her! That's why she chose to remain in this village! Why she lied to you! Why she—"

"Chose girl," her father's voice dropped and even Hiruzen felt his hand twitch towards the kunai hidden in his desk, the man was by far too disinterested for this conversation.

"I wanna be like sissy!" she shouted, tears flying to her eyes, "I wanna be a leaf ninja!" her face was red and tears were rolling down her round cheeks, her hands fisted and trembling at her sides, her knees shaking beneath her small weight.

"…You are no longer Haruno," her father turned away from the office, "I have no children." He tugged his wife down the hall, ignoring her sobbing and crying as they left their youngest in the care of the Hokage. The little girl collapsed to her knees, crying quietly before his desk, staring blankly at his door as if in a mixture of disbelief and relief.

"…Free," she whispered bowing her head, her shoulders shaking, "I'm free…" she started crying a little harder, her body shaking as she slowly started sob, "I… I don't know… know what to-to do." Hiruzen sighed, rubbing one hand across his face, hopefully the councilmember won't abandon them and take his business elsewhere too.

"Mrs. Haruno—"

"Don't," the little girl sobbed, "don't call me that." He stared blankly at her shaking shoulders, "I… I don't have a name anymore… I'm not a Haruno… I'm nobody, no name, no place…" she rubbed at her face with her sleeves but her tears wouldn't stop, she continued crying. "Please help me lord Hokage," she turned towards him, rubbing her nose against her sleeve, "please give me a name…"

" _Please give me a name and a place," she cried softly into her hands_

Hiruzen sighed and nodded, listening to the silent whisper of a familiar voice he used to hear so long ago

"I will give you a name little one," Hiruzen whispered to her, "and you may join the academy, though you must work hard to enter your sister's class, understand?"

"Y-y-ye-yes s-s-sir!' she hick-upped and smiled, well she tried to smile, she looked as if she was constipated

" _Thank you lord Hokage," She smiled up at him, tears still flowing down her cheeks, "thank you"_

…

* * *

…

Naruto sighed as he carried one of the younger Academy children to the orphanage, following behind a bruised orange haired girl and letting a softly crying brunet cling to his side. As he followed the girl, he had to adjust his hold on the younger child several times, and listened to the jabbering the girl was doing as they walked; Naruto stopped suddenly as his eyes landed on the board denoting the name of the orphanage. The girl looked back at him and smiled reassuringly, even the brunet at his side rubbed at his eyes quickly and then hurried forward to rush inside the building. Naruto remained standing at the edge of the entrance to the building, waiting for that dreaded brunet to walk through the door of the house and start cursing at him for returning. Instead the door opened and a tiered looking blonde walked out, smiling sadly as the brunet boy led him to the porch, pointing excitedly at Naruto.

"Hm, is that so Udon?" the man asked, a sad smile on his face as he raised his eyes too look up at the bruised little girl and distrustful looking blonde. "Moegi-chan, did you get into another fight?"

"And I won this one too!" she agreed with a bright smile, "Well, I did have help!" Moegi corrected herself, looking up at Naruto with a smile, "he saved Yukiji too!"

"Is that so?" the man asked, looking at Naruto with a grateful smile, "thank you Uzumaki-san. I'm afraid I'm stuck here at the house with the little ones so I'm not able to bring the children back from the academy, thank you for escorting them back." He stepped stepped aside, opening the door and gesturing inside calmly, "Would you like some tea and snacks? I'm sure the children wouldn't mind their elder spending some more time with them." Moegi and Udon loudly agreed, their eyes lighting up and their smiles widening. Even Yukiji, the small child in Naruto's arms, snuggled closer too him, her tiny hands clutching at his shoulders as if to prevent him from putting her down.

"...Just for a little while," Naruto said softly, following Moegi into the house, stiffening when he passed the strange man still standing in the door way.

"By the way Uzumaki-san," the man called as he closed the screen door and turned to follow the children into the house, "I am Inoichi Yamanaka, it's nice to finally meet you." Naruto glanced back at him distressingly, eyes narrowed thoughtfully as Moegi excitedly pulled him around the corner to the dinning room. Inoichi sighed, as a sensor he knew that Naruto distrusted him, more then the other children did when he first arrived at this little orphanage. It had been nearly half a year since his daughter disappeared, he had Ino's and Sakura's tombstones sitting side by side in the Yamanaka family grave yard, right next to his wife. As far as he knew, Atsuhi, Sakura's father, disowned her when he found out that she lied to him to enter the shinobi academy, as such he never erected a tombstone for her and forbade mention of her in his family. So Inoichi decided that he would have a tombstone made for her, this way if her body was ever found then she had a place to rest peacefully. Besides, he did practically raise her since she met Ino four years ago, it seemed fitting to have her buried beside her surrogate-sister. And when he died, he would be placed next to Sakura's gave, so that the girls would sleep between him and his wife; with luck in the next world they were born in, he would be able to freely call both girls as his daughters.

"Inoichi-san! Mai needs to be changed!" A voice from upstairs called down loudly, sighing heavily as the sound of a toddler crying Inoichi headed for the stairs, groaning softly when three other toddlers suddenly started crying too. He hurried up the stairs and started the process of changing diapers, being forced to bathe one toddler because of the mess, and then started to hum an old lullaby he used to sing to Ino when she was still a toddler. By the time he got the babies sleeping again, it was sunset and he was almost dizzy with hunger; reaching the bottom of the stairs he stopped just short of the last step, listening to the words of the children in the kitchen.

"Naruto-nii, you're really smart!" Moegi's voice sounded

"Not really," the blonde replied, "I've just been over this before." There was a fondness in his voice and affection in his warm sunlight signature, either for the memory or because he was genially happy to help the children with their homework, Inoichi wasn't sure but he did know that the boy was significantly more relaxed now then when he arrived.

"Ah, oppse," Inoichi chuckled to himself as he entered the kitchen, feeling mildly disappointed as the blonde suddenly went in guard, "I'm sorry I didn't come down sooner, I didn't realize you where still here Uzumaki-san." Inoichi smiled at the boy, "thank you for helping the children with their homework, are you hungry? I can make someth-"

"There's no need Yamanaka-san," Naruto interrupted, "I already ordered Pizza for the kids and had some my self."

"Really?" Inoichi questioned in surprise, "I didn't give my wallet to anyone, how'd you pay for it?"

"As an orphan of the village and one training to be a shinobi for the village, I'm aloud to have a monthly stipend," Naruto skewered, turning back towards the paper and quickly pointing something out to Udon on one of his sheets of paper work. "Plus I sold some things last week, so I had some extra cash on me." Inoichi sighed, walking forward he raised a hand swiftly made a chopping motion, thumping the blonde boy on the head with the side of his hand. The look the boy gave him said the strike was more annoying then painful and if he didn't explain soon then he just might return the hit with one of his own.

"I am the adult here Uzumaki-san," Inoichi told him, "I'm supposed to be taking care of the children, including you, understand?"

"...I don't need to be taken care of," Naruto replied coldly, glaring up at him

"Of course you do," Inoichi smiled at him, "You're human, just like me, and it's a known fact that humans stumble and fall. We all need someone to lean on and we all need someone to protect us and someone for us to protect. That's what it means to be human." Inoichi knew from the feel of Naruto's chakra that he not only agreed but was relieved by his words.

"Why don't you come by again tomorrow?" Inoichi asked as he ruffle the boy's unruly locks with a bright smile

…

* * *

…

 **Mary Frye is the rightful author of 'Do Not Stand At My Grave'**

 **I honestly couldn't come up with what to write for a tombstone (much less three), so I looked up 'poems about life and death' and this is the one that made the most sense to me**

 **Thoughts are helpful Opinions are wonderful**

 **Helpful criticism is lovely! Just don't cripple me okay?**

 **Please no cursing!**

 **And don't forget to review!**

 **Page 15**


	3. Chapter 3

**Fate, Destiny and Existence**

Chapter 3: two years later

Koomahana

 **Sorry for not updating, I wanted to double check everything before I posted and then I forgot it was finished so I ended up double checking again...only to forget and the processes repeated...**

 **again, Sorry**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site**

 _Thoughts_

 _Paragraphs are flashbacks_

…

* * *

…

Two years after the announcement of their death

…

* * *

…

The following year came and went, with Naruto's illusion clones still not improving but he did reach twenty-fifth in his Academic tests. Some of the other students were noticing the difference in their class, the bubbly girls they knew were gone and now so was their number one prankster, the boy who never failed to make everyone's day a little brighter. They all saw the change, the silence of the classroom, the lack of energy, the absence of smiles, the silence of laughter; they all saw it slowly fading. Some tried cheering the boy up, some tried getting him to open up, some gossiped beside him hoping to gain his attention but as the days passed his eyes grew colder and colder. The teachers watched him a little closer now, feeling unnerved with his unnatural silence and worried for the lack of a smile or smirk. Somewhere even convinced Armageddon was approaching every time they saw a book in Naruto's hand or saw his assignments with test scores rise. When Sasuke began sitting near the blonde, just to escape the noise of everyone else, the girls started to see that maybe Naruto was a little like Sasuke and just that was enough to make them blush when they saw him.

"Hay Naruto-san! Come over here for a sec!" a girl shouted one day during lunch, waving him over to her group. Naruto looked up and stared at the group of girls, one book still held in hand, he blinked slowly at them and then kept walking. "How rude! We're trying to be nice here! Pay attention to it!"

"You're being manipulative," Naruto drawled back, not caring if they heard him. Not looking where he was going as he read and walked, soon he bumped into another kid accidentally. When he looked up to see who it was, he saw it was Sasuke and decided not to apologize, so he kept walking. A few girls huffed at him for being rude to their 'precious Sasuke-kun', but Sasuke rarely saw it as an insult, he knew the look of grief but Sasuke still didn't know what Naruto could be depressed over. One summer day though, he was arriving at the academy a little early and stopped to stare at the blonde boy standing in front of the mural to the left of the academy gates. Naruto was just staring at it, as if he was trying to engrave the image into his mind forever and the second he heard Sasuke approaching he turned into the academy grounds and disappeared inside. Sasuke approached the mural and stared curiously at the image of the three girls; two kneeling together smiling brightly, one with a book in her lap, one arranging flowers and the third was leaning against a tree smirking at them in amusement.

In the upper right corner it read 'in loving memory to the stars of our lives, year XX10, October 31'

The date was well known to Sasuke and to everyone else in his class. That was the day they lost three classmates in the western forest. No one had the exact story; some say they committed suicide together, some say they were murdered, some say they were tortured to death to the point their very souls were still wandered the western forest in unending agony. There were hundreds of stories about them, almost all were false, and still it was the thought that three ten year old girls all died in the same area of one forest that made it some kind 'taboo' forest. The longer Sasuke stared at the mural, the more he realized that Naruto had been staring at the girls because he knew them and then it hit Sasuke that the blonde might've been suffering from the loss of people he might've called family. If the rumors of the blonde where to be believed, then Naruto was in love with one of the girls who died in that forest two years ago.

Sasuke lost his family to a murder, Naruto lost his first love to a murder

They were orphans, heartbroken orphans

They had more in common than Sasuke originally assumed

…

"How is Naruto-kun's progress Iruka-kun?" Hiruzen asked as the chunin stood in front of him with a clip board in hand, looking dejected and nervous at the same time

"Um, well his grades are improving," Iruka said slowly, "So are his combat skills and his weapons training too, he's already averaging out in his classes but his Taijutsu class seems to be his best class, he's ranked second in sparing every week this month."

"I meant his emotional status," Hiruzen interrupted him, "I haven't gotten a single complaint about him pranking someone for the past year, honestly its disturbing." Iruka smiled, trying to hold back his laughter, of all the things that was missed, it was that most annoying little trait that the shinobi of the village hated the most. "Are we sure he's the same Naruto-kun? Maybe we should have a DNA test done just be sure…"

"Hokage-sama you're over reacting," Iruka chuckled, "don't worry, Nao already double checked him several times this year already."

"So I'm not the only one worried," Hiruzen sighed, slumping in his seat, "well at least he wasn't switched out with an imposture…" Iruka shook his head with a smile, a soft chuckle escaping him as he envisioned Nao's wrath if that happened. "So Iruka-kun?" Hiruzen questioned, jolting the brunet out of his thoughts, "how is Naruto-kun's emotional status?"

"He's secluding himself in class," Iruka answered softly, his shoulders dropping. "His grades are improving but he's not reacting in class. He doesn't interrupt, he doesn't pull pranks, and he's not bickering with the teachers like he used too."

"Hm, that's a drastic change indeed," Hiruzen mumbled softly, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully. "So… he's acting more and more like his father…"

"Honestly I don't know what the fourth acted like as a child, so I'm just gonna agree with you," Iruka replied, "There is something that I did notice Hokage-sama." Hiruzen straightened at the change in tone, his eyes sharpening on the young chunin as his back straightened and his eyes locked with his own. "The Kyūbi's marks on Naruto's face… they're fading, by the end of the year they could be gone completely. I've spoken to the few Yamanaka instructors at the academy and they've noticed that they can't sense the demon's chakra signature inside of Naruto, in fact they have to focus extra hard with meditation just to find a flicker of it in him."

"Not even the Yamanaka can find the Kyūbi in him?" Hiruzen asked, straightening in his seat

"Well, they can they just have to focus really hard on it," Iruka corrected himself, "I'm not sure why but the demon is subtracting his chakra from Naruto's, removing himself from his entire chakra network. At least, that's what they think and a few of the Hyūga instructors agree as well, the only clue they have of him being the jinchuriki is the seal they can see on his belly but otherwise, that's it."

 _Just what is that demon up too?_ Hiruzen thought with narrowed eyes, "Thank you Iruka-kun, I'll have a seal expert check the seal soon."

"Um sir," Iruka hesitated a moment, before continuing at the curious look Hiruzen gave him, "that… that might not be a good idea…"

"Why's that?" Hiruzen questioned

"Because I've seen Naruto-kun drawing in class when he thinks no one else is looking," Iruka explained, like he expected to be interrupted or scoffed at, "I think he's practicing seals…"

"Who the hell taught him?!" Hiruzen asked loudly, his voice very nearly echoing in the kage building. Iruka shrunk back as the old man jumped to his feet, his eyes wide and his face pale in horror. "If that rug-rat figures out how to pull off pranks with seals, I'll never have a peaceful moment for the rest of my life!"

 _That's your concern?_ Iruka thought, mildly horrified by the volume his kage's voice, "um anyways my point is that if you bring in a seal master to look at the seal on his stomach then he's going to get curious about it and start asking questions… or doing his own version of an investigation." Hiruzen paled further, looking very nearly like a ghost, "um... Hokage-sama?" Iruka called unsurely, "you okay?"

"The world is gonna end," Hiruzen murmured slouching in his seat, looking like he wanted to start crying, "if he finds out what his inheritance is then the pranks will never end…"

 _You have no faith in him do you?_ Iruka thought with a sigh as his kage thumped his forehead against the paper-strewn surface of his desk, "I'll keep a close eye on him Hokage-sama, okay?"

"Ku~shi~na~ did you put a cu~se on me~?" Hiruzen whined into the paper work miserably

"…I'm gonna go now," Iruka mumbled heading for the door

…

Sakura watched as Naruto walked through the doorway, one bag over his shoulder and a smile on his face. Ami remained laying down, panting heavily in her sleep, after remaining healthy for two years, it was frightening to see one sick. The seal was supposed to keep them in perfect health, but the blood that was staining Ami's underside was alarming. None of them knew what was going on but Naruto promised to come back with medicine, judging by his current cheer he found something that would help her. He gently gave Ami the medicine he brought her and then oddly enough placed a cloth under her and pulled it up between her legs to rest on her lower belly. He then started to hand out the books he got from the library and collecting the ones that needed to return, he double checked Ami's temperature and started to head back out. He glanced once back at them and then walked out the door, a few seconds later he returned with an arm fool of scrolls, he quickly dropped them between Ino and Sakura and sprinted back out the door before they could ask him anything.

"What was that about?" Ino asked, looking back at Sakura curiously

"I don't know," Sakura answered, grabbing a scroll and reading it. "Hay these are…" she read through more of it, her eyes widening with every line she read. "No way," she breathed, setting the scroll in her lap numbly as if she couldn't believe what she was reading. Curious, Ino reached out and grabbed one, reading it with a clueless expression.

"Are these seals?" Ino asked

"Not just any seals," Sakura said reaching for another scroll and reading through it quickly, "These are the scrolls for learning how to make seals, the very basics of them! Instruction manuals for seal making, every symbol and combination explained, their uses and abilities, the pros and cons, everything!"

"So what you're saying is that we could learn how to read the seal we're in right now?" Ino asked, beginning to feel excitement at the prospect

"Maybe," Sakura answered slowly, shifting through the scrolls with a frown. "It looks like these are only the basics... maybe if we get better at reading them, we might be able to read the seal we're in..."

"Why would Naruto give us these?" Ino asked, "What's the point?"

"Uzumaki," Sakura whispered suddenly, staring at the crest at the bottom of every scroll. "These are Uzumaki scrolls, instructions on their family secrets..."

"Isn't that Naruto's last name?" Ami asked, surprising the two with her soft wheezing breathe

"Yeah," Sakura agreed slowly, only to gasp in realization, "he's giving us his family secrets!"

"No, no way," Ino shook her head, elbow long platinum locks flying, "the only way to learn a clan's secret techniques is through marriage!"

"Or adoption," Sakura countered, "another contradiction is someone willingly teaching you them."

"The Uzumaki clan was destroyed by a combination attack from Kumo and Mizu," Ami said before Ino could retaliate, "that means that the last survivor came to Konoha and eventually they gave birth to Naruto."

"Oh yeah, then where is his parents?" Ino asked doubtfully

"They're dead," Ami answered bluntly, temporarily silencing them. Breathing heavily with half lidded eyes, Ami tried to explain, "One of the biggest things known... about the Uzumaki clan is their endless chakra stores. If they survived war... they could live to be a hundred easy. Their massive amount of chakra contained in their bodies... made them perfect candidates for the demons to be sealed into. Remember that history lesson... a few years back, where Iruka-sensei explained to us what happened... between the founders?"

"I remember," Sakura said softly, even as Ino looked down at the ground in shame. "He said that Madara Uchiha summoned the Kyūbi and controlled it with his powerful Dojotsu. To protect the village, Hashirama Senju, the Shodaime Hokage, preformed a forbidden seal; caging the demon inside his wife Mito Uzumaki until the day she died."

"Doesn't that mean that the Kyūbi should be dead then?" Ino asked, her face pinching into confusion

"N-No," Ami panted, her focus beginning to waver as sleep crept up on her, "s~seal... re-seal..."

"Yeah I agree," Sakura bobbed her head at Ami, "The books say that the nine Bijū are the physical manifestation of nature's chakra networks, they _can't_ be killed; they'll just regenerate. If you do manage to destroy their physical bodies the rest of them will only be absorbed into the earth again, slowly rebuilding over so many years to reappear at some other point in time. No one knows how long it takes for a Bijū to regenerate."

"The village was attacked by the Kyūbi twelve years ago," Ino whispered in remembrance, "Iruka-sensei said that the Yondaime Hokage killed it."

"You can't kill Bijū," Sakura whispered, paling in realization, "you can only seal them…" unknown to the girls, Naruto was standing beside the entrance to their room, listening to them silently. He closed his eyes and fisted his hands, tears flying to his eyes as he tried to suppress the urge to start crying like a newborn.

"Then his parents…" Ino whispered, "One of them had to be an Uzumaki…"

"Then they died with Honor," Sakura said, making Naruto jerk at her soft determined voice. "His parents knew what would happen when they sealed the demon into him but they also knew what would happen if the demon remained lose. They chose to seal the demon into Naruto to save the village and give him the ultimate shield."

"What do you mean?" Ino asked, "What ultimate shield?"

"No matter what happens to him, the demon will continue to heal Naruto," Sakura explained, remembering the scratches and bruises that were always gone before the day was over. "No matter what, that demon will not let Naruto die. In other words, his parents willingly gave up their lives not just to protect the village but to make sure their son survived no matter what happened. If you stop to think about it, when the village was attacked twelve years ago we were still at war with no end in sight. They wanted to make sure that if he grew up in war he would be safe, no matter what."

"Well… no one can say they didn't love him," Ino sighed, shaking her head, "that's one hell of a sacrifice."

...

* * *

...

"N-Nao-san!" Naruto whined loudly, "let go! That hurts!"

"Quite squirming!" Nao ordered, "How'd you manage to break your arm, again?!" Naruto glared off to the side, he had been surprised during the spar he had with Sasuke, and the surprise was the braking of his arm. "Naruto Uzumaki," Nao said his name as if she was ready to give his ear a twist that wouldn't stop, he snapped to attention in front of her, eyes wide and attention locked. "Answer me already," Nao ordered, "you're getting hurt too often to be normal, your body doesn't heal like it used to, you nee—"

"To rely on the demon?" Naruto asked, frowning at her

"…you know?" Nao asked, sitting back in her seat with wide eyes, surprise making her voice whisper soft

"I met him," Naruto diverted his eyes, unable to look at the nurse who always smiled at him and cracked jokes with him. "I don't like him…"

"Many don't," Nao said softly, staring at her hands as they rested in her lap. "…the Kyūbi is supposed to heal his hosts no matter what, why isn't he now?"

"I told him he destroys everything he touches," Naruto answered her, Nao straightened in her seat, her eyes widening in surprise, "besides, he destroys things and laughs about it, people die because of his actions and he finds it amusing. I don't need his help or charity. I'm glad he's not healing me, it's just more proof that I'm human and he's not."

"Naruto," Nao said warningly, "one: you must never speak of this to anyone, only Hokage-sama can answer any questions you might have about the demon, understand?"

"I figured that out forever and half ago Nao-san," Naruto pouted at her

"Two: Demons have feelings too, make sure you apologize," Nao gave him a warning look, one he chose to ignore, "three: relying on your own strength is good but eventually you'll have to learn to lean on someone else. You're not god Naruto," she reached out and touched his cheek, gently making him look towards her, "you are human. You will stumble and fall, you will mess up, sometimes royally and sometimes slightly, but as a human you must stand again, just as we all do. You must never give up, understand?" he nodded slightly in her hand, "good." She smiled warmly at him as if she hadn't seen the sun in a long time, "now, would you like some Ramen?"

"…can you help me with my academy forms after words?" Naruto asked meekly

"I can teach you how to heal too!" Nao laughed, her shoulders shaking as she smiled brightly at him

"Really?" Naruto asked, perking at the information, "you can teach me how to fix what the demon destroys?" she sighed heavily as if disappointed with him

"Yes, I can teach you what I know," she gave him a look that said he was about to get scolded, "but I need Hokage-sama's permission, understand?"

"Alright," Naruto sighed, slumping in his seat, "You done with my hand now?"

"Hold on, you need a brace," he groaned loudly as she rummaged around for a sling to use on him

…

* * *

…

"Class I want to introduce you to someone," Iruka called out and everyone straightened, their eyes locking in on a little girl at his side, staring at her leaf green eyes, pale skin and copper colored hair. "This is Takara Koizumi, she's worked very hard to get into this class," Iruka smiled encouragingly at the little girl, watching her familiar face peer up at him from behind her bright hair. "Go on little one," Iruka encouraged, "introduce yourself."

"He-hello," Takara stepped forward hesitantly, "I'm s-s...ss... T-Takara Ha-uh... Koi-Koizumi, and... Um, I'm s-six years old. Uh-um... n-nice to-to meet you all." She bowed deeply, as if remembering that was something she should do.

"Hay wait!" Kiba shouted, jumping to his feet, "she's six years old! She's half our age! How'd she get in _our_ class?!"

"Like I said Kiba-kun, she's worked very hard to get here," Iruka reminded him, "she's six years old and all of you are twelve years old, so I want everyone to be nice to her, got it?"

"Yes sir!" the class intoned together, Naruto watched a couple girls giggle together and knew from experience that they weren't going to be nice to the girl. To his annoyance he was right, a few days later he ended up having to chase the girls away during lunch hour, receiving spiteful looks and loud curses from the bullies.

"You okay kid?" Naruto asked, looking back at the little girl, she remained curled up into a little ball, crying uncontrollably. Reminding him horribly of a little cry-baby girl he knew long ago, so long ago he wished he could forget those old cheerful days.

"Di-did s-sissy d-deal wi-with this?" Takara gasped and stuttered, "ho-how could she-he w-want to be a ninja?!" Naruto frowned at the little girl, his eyes narrowing, "how?!" she looked up at him, fat tears rolling down her round red cheeks, "how could she w-want to-o be-be like them?!"

"How should I know?" Naruto asked bluntly, "everyone becomes a ninja for their own reasons. For some it's obligation, others it's an escape." He walked away from her, leaving her to cry in the pathway alone, not caring how'd she take his words or what the teachers thought when they watched him leave behind a crying little girl. The little girl continued to get picked on, mostly because of her strange hair color, and for the most part Naruto remained as her silent and only protector. But then one day, everything changed, little Takara came to class dressed in a painfully familiar crimson qipao dress, out lined in snowy white but absent of any clan mark unlike a certain pinkette.

"I'm Takara Koizumi!" Takara stood in front of the class and shouted for everything she was worth, "I'm gonna be a ninja! One that my Nee-chan would be proud of!"

"How do you know she'd want an ugly little girl like you as a ninja?" one of the girls asked bluntly, one dark brow raised. Takara took in a deep breath and fixed the girl with a steely look that replaced the brunet's spite with sudden fear.

"Because she died trying to be one,"

No one ever dared to hurt Takara ever again

...

* * *

…

She smiled at the village council, unaffected by the various looks she was receiving for barging in on their meeting and then announcing that she wanted to teach Naruto how to heal. In all honesty, no one before had the foresight to see if a jinchuriki _could_ heal, but it was almost laughable considering that said children typically had horrid chakra control and extremely destructive personalities. Just thinking about the Ichibi's constant need to kill or the Sanbi's massive destructive power was enough to make some reconsider the possibility of teaching the Kyūbi jinchuriki how to heal. Shouldn't the strongest of the demons learn how to fight so he can trample over his weaker siblings? Several of the village councilors looked at Hiruzen for guidance, only to see that he was taking the request seriously and thinking of all the pros and cons of a medic with endless stamina and chakra reserves. If war did break out then be would be in valuable, not because he was a sword but a shield, he could save more lives out in the field then either one of his parents did.

And they were quite could at getting the drop on their enemies

"Hiruzen, tell me you're not taking her seriously," Danzo, a village elder, ordered coldly, "the Kyúbi jinchuriki is a sword. A blade we use to cut down our enemies-"

"Mito-sama and Kushina-hime were never swords," Hiruzen said thoughtfully, "they were _guardians_." He straighten in his seat and smiled challengingly at the blonde woman standing at the end of his desk, his eyes sparkling as she returned the smirk. "Namikaze-sama, can you teach your nephew how to save lives?"

"I've already began teaching him how to perfect his chakra control," the woman answered, "I need only your permission for the...uh more _dangerous_ precision lessons."

"Permission granted," The woman left with a smile as cruel as a hungry shark's

…

* * *

…

Naruto panted as he ran, his arms full of two rebellious brats with a third clinging to his back, all looking a terrified cats; himself included. The children grunted as he skidded around a corner and dived into the busy street of the market, ignoring the whispering and startled shouting of the adults Naruto continued to run.

"We-we're sorry," Moegi whimpered, her hands wringing the front of his dark shirt fear fully, a fresh wave of tears edging her eyes.

"R-really sorry," Udon said in agreement

"Don't apologize to me," Naruto grunted as he dived around a large group of traveling merchants

"GET BACK HERE!" several pink and orange painted chunin screamed shrilly from behind him

"Tell them!" Naruto shouted, putting an extra burst of speed into his desperate run, "What'd you three do?!"

"S-sorry Nii-san!" Yukiji whimpered from his back, "I-I—"

"If you didn't do anything then don't lie about it!" Naruto ordered as he sprint through the village, "how'd I get drawn into this anyway?!" One moment he was walking home from the store and the next he was being run over by three kids, and then running for his life when several chunin accused him of doing something to them.

Now he's running for his life and he doesn't know _why_

...

Inoichi smiled peacefully at the group of irate chunin, trying very hard not to laugh at their... _colorful_ appearances. After raising his hands peacefully, effectively stopping them at the gate of the orphanage, he proceeded to listen to their complaints and problems. Most of the chunin present had a long tiring day, others had a string of little problems all stacking up against them, making their tempers snap when someone threw paint-filled water balloons at them. Inoichi smiled at them and gave them simple little tasks to do to clear their minds and cool their tempers, the chunin were hesitant to listen to him but eventually they gave in.

"Please make sure to punish those children ma'am," a chunin said as he readied to leave, "especially the blonde one!"

"Alright I—wait, what?" The group was gone before he they could clarify just what they thought he was. Feeling dumb founded, Inoichi slowly walked back into the house, allowing the screen door to close but keeping the old oak door open. Next to the staircase and half crawled into the open doorway to the dinning / kitchen room were the four children the group of chunin were after; the preteen blonde refused to budge any further. His was face red with exhaustion and his chest heaving as he panted out of breath, his hands trembled as he tried to crawl further into the safety of the kitchen but only succeeded in looking like a turtle out of water. Moegi, Udon and Yukiji all crouched nearby, watching him curiously with their faces plopped into their hands.

"Care to explain how this happened?" Inoichi asked calmly as he walked forward and pulled Naruto up, carefully helping him to a seat at the large table so he could rest.

"Um...Udon and I were experimenting with our science project and... uh," Moegi trailed off as Inoichi turned to give her a warning look before walking towards the sink and filling a cup with water. "We uh-um... something happened and the chunin got caught in the explosion." Inoichi sighed as he set the cup down in front of Naruto, "we ran and they chased us and then we came across Yukiji and we grabbed her so she wouldn't get hurt but they still chased us and then Naruto-nii appeared and grabbed all of us up and ran straight here!"

"Hmm, that's almost a believable story," Inoichi hummed as he sat down across from Naruto, "now that I know what you'll tell everyone else, why don't you try telling me the truth?"

"I'm sorry," Moegi bowed her head in shame, "Udon told me not to but I did it anyways..." Inoichi snapped at the group of three, "but... I just... I heard what they said about Naruto-nii and I just..." Udon wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to himself, his lips pressed tightly together as she started to cry softly.

"I understand Moegi-chan," Inoichi smiled reassuringly at her, "thank you for defending him but next time don't try pranking someone if you can't out run them, okay?" The two sniff and gasped, their heads snapping up to stare at him wide eyed, "next time use your voice okay? Don't be afraid to speak up, especially if that other person is in the wrong."

"Ye-Yes sir!" Moegi chuckled, scrubbing at her face with her hands to remove the tears.

"Naruto-kun, thank you for protecting the children and for bringing them home," Inoichi smiled at the surprised look the boy gave him. "To prevent any further trouble please continue bringing the children home after school."

"If I have the extra time," Naruto plopped his face into his arms and glared off to the side, Inoichi smiled and ruffled his hair affectionately.

"You're a great protector Naruto-kun," Inoichi's smile brightened, "I'm sure someday you'll protect this village and become a great hero."

Naruto hid his blush in his arms

...

* * *

...

Ami chuckled as Naruto blabbed about his day to them, the joy he felt at getting fifth place in sparing was quickly flipped into sheer terror when he found himself running from a group of chunin, and then the pride he felt when the new caretaker of the orphanage acknowledged his dream and even encouraged him. Ino and Sakura were still reading from the books that Naruto brought back, they ended up keeping his academy text books (Sakura somehow managed to convince them to keep studying the academy martial); even bribing Naruto into making copies of his homework and assignments so they could do it with him. He spent so much time with them that they learned just how neglected he was, incapable of reading or writing in anything more than hiragana, unable to do math beyond addition and subtraction, unable to remember constellations or tell time by the sun's location. Even his academy Taijutsu and weapon-arts was perfectly horrid, as if no one bothered to sit him down and go over everything that he needed to know to be a ninja. So the girls took over the teacher's and adults responsibilities: Sakura became the academy instructor, teaching the very basics of every subject; Ino became his Taijutsu instructor, she was surprisingly brutal with her hand to hand fighting; and Ami became his weapons instructor, teaching him her fondest craft with ease and encouragements. They were proud to hear that their specialties were actually improving the blonde knuckle head in the academy, after spending a full year with him, how could they not grow a fondness for him?

"I'm glad to hear that your improving," Sakura smiled at him, "now did you ask for next year's text books? Despite your current grades, come summer break, everything will slip back out of your head."

"I'm not dumb," Naruto pouted at her

"Never said you were," Sakura replied, "however, even my grades dropped when I came from summer break. I don't want yours too, it's too annoying to try and catch up again." Naruto blinked and sighed, giving in to the pinkette's request of the next year's books and practicing _again_ over summer break. "Thank you Naruto," Sakura smiled, "How's your lessons going in Iruka-sensei's class?"

"He's saying my grades are improving but…" Naruto hesitated a moment as he considered telling the girl's his thoughts on the chunin, "I think he's suspicious about how I'm improving my grades. He thinks there's someone teaching me and he wants to meet them…"

"Technically there is someone helping you," Ami sighed, "several actually."

"I've been telling him that I'm learning on my own but he doesn't belief me!" Naruto whined, thumping his forehead on the desk

"Don't worry about it," Ino ordered, "We'll just make sure your classes improve little by little not by leaps and bounds, okay?"

"And how do you expect us to do that?" Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow, "We're not in his classes anymore Ino, We don't know what the teachers are expecting of him anymore."

"Why not just continue at the pace we've been going at?" Ami asked them, "no harm done in continuing like nothing happened."

…

* * *

…

They stood slightly closer together to keep out of the cold October wind, hands trembling in their pockets and noses running, they tried to stand guard over the Yamanaka Graveyard. The flinched together as a particularly cold wind pushed against them, this time it was accompanied by the feel of a wave crashing down around them, nearly smothering them in misery and despair. They glanced at each other and sighed, their shoulders slumping as the emotions of the only visitor in the graveyard released they emotions, allowing them to take them over for the day. The visitor used to come by weekly but with her studies over flowing at the academy, she's barely had the time to visit the grave; today was the first time in over a month. Even here at the gates, they could hear the soul wrenching scream of sorrow and grief, the waves of negativity rolling out of the visitor crashed mercilessly into them, like a thousand arrows all perfectly allied into one small target. Another scream howled with the cold wind, threatening to rip their hearts apart with the sound alone, the outbreak of another wave of negativity crashed around them, threatening to freeze their blood.

Still they dared not to move towards the source, knowing the visitor inside would leave once the sun lowered beneath the thick clouds of this ominous day

True to their knowledge, the sun began to lower and their visitor appeared at the gates beside them, standing still and calm like a statue. They stared at the visitor, allowing them to collect themselves before they left the graveyard and observing them until then. The child was small and clearly a girl if the blood red skirt were a clue, her winter maroon red jacket was waste long and bulky enough to hide most of her body inside, as if it were made for someone older. Her head was perfectly hidden beneath a white and pink stripped burette hate that was three sizes too big, nearly hiding her face in its wide brim, a single pink and purple stripped gloved hand lifted out of her pocket and tucked the white scarf down to reveal her young features. The child took in a deep breath of the freezing wind and slowly released it, as if she were breathing in the cold winds and breathing out the negativity still residing inside her heart.

"Breathing in the October wind isn't going to numb your heart Haruno-san," one guard sighed at her, "she's gone, it's not your fault, quite beating yourself up over it." She glanced at him, as if noticing him for the first time; instead of answering him she turned away and started walking down the cold road back to the village. Sighing they closed their eyes and concentrated on the girl's chakra signature and activated one of their clans hidden mind reading techniques.

 _"If I were born a boy, she'd still be alive today,"_ the thought was echoed with the crushing weight of self-hatred, forcing them to release the technique before her negativity consumed them mercilessly.

"What a fool," one guard sighed, rubbing his cold hand against his aching forehead, "your gender didn't seal her fate, her choice to save a classmate did."

...

* * *

...

Inoichi smiled as he watched Naruto help Udon with his weapons throwing and then quipped a quick clue to Moegi for her history report. Since the blonde returned to the Orphanage, the bullying of his charges essentially stopped and their grades improved almost overnight. Even the emotions in the house changed from over bearing sadness and fear to the contagious excitement and energy other children their age usually showed in over abundance. Feeling a foreign chakra signature approach the orphanage with the familiar feel of sadness from one of his younger charges, had Inoichi appearing at the front door in record time. Quietly opening the gate to the orphanage with one hand was the familiar young Uchiha boy, carrying the small body of Tomoe; the little white haired boy was clinging to him like a life support.

"Tomoe-kun," Inoichi called gently, opening the screen door and stepping out, "what happened Uchiha-kun? Why is he bleeding?"

"I found him in the park," Sasuke grumbled to him, "he was playing with a fox, and some civilians saw him and freaked out."

"They did this to him?" Inoichi asked with wide eyes, reaching out to take the small child but stopped when he felt the boy's chakra shift, a silent form of rejection. Sighing Inoichi stepped aside and allowed Sasuke to enter the Orphanage, the boy hesitated for a moment but entered when he realized that Inoichi wouldn't be taking Tomoe away from him. Inoichi guided Sasuke into the kitchen where little Yukiji and a few others were practicing their writing, when they saw them, Yukiji ran out the back door shouting for 'Nii-san'.

"Don't panic," Inoichi instructed the other children, "they're minor scrapes and bruises, now stay here while I get the med-kit." He was already heading to the back of the kitchen where another entrance to the back hall lurked before he finished speaking.

"It's bad Nii-san!" A small squeaky voice sounded from around the glass door to the back yard, "he's bleeding and everything!"

"Alright, alright, where is he Yukiji-Chan?" The familiar voice had Sasuke stiffening in his seat, before he could move to pull the white haired boy off him, Naruto walked around the corner with the small black haired girl in hand. Their eyes met and Sasuke swore the blonde was going to throw something at him, instead the blonde's eyes dropped to the child in his lap and he sighed heavily. "Tomoe-kun," Naruto called gently, stepping forward into the kitchen, "did the civilians catch you?" The boy nodded his head slowly, sniffling in Sasuke's shoulder as if he couldn't look at the blonde now standing beside Sasuke. "I'm sorry Tomoe-kun," Naruto sighed as he rested a hand on his back, Sasuke watched as the blonde's hand flared bright blue and the white haired boy's cuts and scrapes started to fade away slowly. "I'm sorry..." Naruto whispered, "I'm sorry..."

"Ah! Naruto-san, you haven't mastered that!" Inoichi called worriedly, a white box with a red cross on it in hand, "please re-"

"It's my fault," Naruto interrupted, not looking at any of them, "it's because I spend so much time with everyone—" Naruto blinked as he felt Inoichi plop the emergency kit on his head, an annoyed sigh escaping him.

"Anyone who harms a child is a monster," Inoichi murmured, remembering what he had seen in the forest so long ago, "you who heal them, teach them, feed and protect them... you are a guardian and anyone who says otherwise is a fool." Naruto looked up at Inoichi with swimming eyes, his chakra fading from his hand, "I know your heart is as pure as sunshine." Inoichi smiled at him, Naruto sniffed and pulled away from Tomoe, allowing Inoichi to tend to the cuts and bruises on the little boy.

"Huh? Naruto-nii?" Inoichi listened to Udon step into the room, bewilderment filling him, "hay where's Naruto-nii?"

"He's—hay! He's gone!" Yukiji shouted in surprise

"Naruto-kun isn't used to encouragement and kindness," Inoichi said as he wrapped Tomoe's arm gently, "he's on his way home now."

"Will we see him again?" Udon asked, noting how Inoichi stopped and focused on the boy's chakra signature

"...I don't know," Inoichi murmured as he tied the cloth in place and moved to look at Tomoe's other arm, sighing at the deep scrap on his elbow. "Like I said, hatred and loathing are things he's used to. Anything positive is a foreign concept to him, one he doesn't know how to handle, so he runs away."

Sasuke decided that he hated cowereds, almost as much as he hated child abusers

...

The day came and went, hurrying past before he was ready to move on, the final bell for the academy rung and he found himself staring at an irate Uchiha with two sniffling children hiding him and a familiar white haired boy in his arms.

"Take them," Sasuke ordered, glaring at Naruto who only stared back at him, "Now before I throw this one at you!" Sasuke barked and Naruto jumped, He held his hands out quickly nd Tomoe quickly scurried out of Sasuke's hold and into the blonde's. "Ch," Sasuke stuffed his hands into his pockets and started to walk away, "Annoying."

"Bastard!" Naruto shouted, "don't throw kids like their kunai knifes!"

"I didn't you idiot!" Sasuke snapped, slamming the classroom door open and walking out.

Sasuke never saw the happy smiles of the kids and Naruto never saw Sasuke's relived smile

...

* * *

...

 **Thoughts are helpful**

 **Opinions are Wonderful**

 **Helpful criticisms lovely! Just don't cripple me okay?**

 **And don't forget to rate and review!**

 **Page 15**


	4. Chapter 4

Fate, Destiny and Existence

Chapter 4: Three years later

Koomahana

 **minor grammer editing, sorry I didn't notice it sooner (primaerly the scene with Mizuki, Iruka and Naruto)  
**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site**

 _Thoughts_

 _Paragraphs are flashbacks_

…

* * *

…

Graduation day

Three years after the girl's 'death'

…

In their final year of the academy, Iruka offered to take Naruto to Ichiraku to celebrate getting second place in the academic tests but the blonde said no and walked away. That day Iruka realized that the blonde trouble maker he knew was gone, the boy had been replaced with someone that he didn't know. Iruka looked at the principle nearby and saw that the old man had noticed the change as well and after having a talk with Naruto's other instructors, Iruka found that all of them had noticed a change in the boy as well; though good or bad none of them could decide. Instead of making spitballs and traps involving orange paint, making a ruckus in class and being a general nuisance to society, the boy stared out his classroom window regardless of who was teaching and studying during lunch when he was supposed to be eating. He didn't talk to the other students, he didn't answer questions when he was called on, he didn't socialize with anyone older or younger then himself (escorting orphans home seemed to be his only pass time after school). Naruto stopped talking all together, focusing on his books and tests, studying as if he had to relay the information back to someone. With a pair of glasses on and a book in hand, Naruto sometimes resembles the late Yondaime Hokage, especially when he's drawing little circles and random lines on his sheets in boredom. He wasn't even wearing his normal screaming orange jump suit any more, he was wearing simple dark slacks and a black long sleeve shirt with a dark jacket. Naruto separated himself from people, kept quiet and did all of his work like he was supposed to, silent and alone like a ghost in human form.

Strange how everyone ignored Naruto when he was loud and boisterous but when he went silent everyone suddenly noticed him

The day of the final test for the hopeful graduates, Iruka sat beside Mizuki and both of them graded the kids on their performance of the illusion clone. Almost every one of his students made at least five illusion clones, only Sasuke could create six without breaking a sweat and Hinata created ten that left her sweating and a little pale. Naruto walked into the room silently, as if he didn't even want to be there, and stared dully at them. After receiving the go ahead from Iruka, Naruto carefully went through the hand signs and concentrated on his chakra coursing through his body. After a moment of silence and it appeared that nothing was happening, Iruka was about to fail him when he saw the wind pick up around the boy. Iruka sat a little straighter in his seat, watching a little closer, then there was a hug cloud of white dust around the blonde and Iruka wondered briefly how many illusions there were.

"Iruka," Mizuki breathed, his eyes wide as he stared at what was in front of him, Iruka waved his hand around in front of his face before daring to open his eyes and see what the knuckle head did. Standing side by side were two calm Naruto Uzumakis, both as bored looking as the other. There was only one problem with the illusion clone, he was made in black and white, as if someone forgot to color in a picture.

"You fail," Iruka sighed heavily, he was really homing that the boy's good grades were a sign of his mastery of the illusion clone

"How?" Naruto asked tilting his head to the side

"You forgot to add color to your clone," Iruka answered bluntly. The two Naruto's looked at each other blankly

"I see nothing wrong with him," the two said at the same time, pointing at the other. Iruka blinked dumbly and rubbed at his brow tiredly, as if something just occurred to him and he was berating himself for not seeing it sooner.

"I want you to go to the nurse's office and hand her this note," Iruka ordered, writing a quick note and then passing it off to him easily. Naruto dismissed his clone and took the note, walking out of the room as if nothing happened. Outside the hall was full of kids ready to test and those who already did, all grew silent and watched him leave without an expression or headband. The nurse took his note with a smile and then did a few tests on his eyes and even checked his temperature. Then she sent him outside with another smile, saying she'd gather up some more data and double check a few things before she gave him the results. Outside he sat on the swing attached to the oak tree, book in hand and glasses on the edge of his nose. Closer to the doors were all of his classmates, all giggling and laughing, thrilled they passed the test to become shinobi. Naruto calmly flipped a page in his book, ignoring the glares he was receiving from two women and their low whispering that was undoubtedly cursing him for something he didn't do.

"Ha! Ha!" he looked up and blinked slowly as Hinata stood between the two women who were glaring at him, her eyes fighting to pulse with her bloodline. The two women were crumpled on the ground, holding their sides with their faces pinched up in pain, as if someone just slammed hammers into their bodies. Hinata's stance suddenly drew Naruto's attention and he realized quickly that she had attacked the two women, easily taking out the use of their legs with one hit each.

"Wha-what was that for?!" one woman gasped out, glaring up at Hinata

"That's my mom!" one of the boys shouted throwing a punch at Hinata, she spun on one foot, stopping mid kick, letting her foot hover inches away from the boy's throat. The boy froze, his fist stopping just passed his face, his brown eyes locked onto the pale foot stationed just below his chin.

"Witch!"

 _Oh no!_ Hinata's eyes widened and she turned to see the other woman's son throw a kick at her head, she retracted her foot from the other boy and tried to curl up to avoid the kick but she wasn't moving fast enough, she was going to get hit.

"What's going on here?" Hinata gasped, opening her eyes she realized that she was slightly further back then where she was in the beginning and both of her feet were on the ground. She felt someone release her hood and she looked to her left to see Naruto standing calmly, as if he had been standing there since time began; holding the second boy's foot in the air like it weighed nothing.

"N-Naruto-san!" the first boy gasped, stepping back with slightly wide eyes

"Are you going to stare at me or answer my question?" Naruto asked patiently, ignoring the unsettling silence of his other classmates; everyone turned to look at them, watching curiously. Naruto usually ignored people who argued near him, if someone got in a fist fight he'd watch for a little bit then leave, he never got directly involved in anyone's life. And as each of his classmates stared at him, they each slowly realized that he went from the swing under the tree to the Academy doors in seconds. The dust from his sudden stop had barely settled around his feet before he asked the question that silenced both boys before him. Now he was staring at them with unsettling blue eyes, as if he didn't care for the staring of the students and their parents, all watching him as if waiting for a fight to happen.

"She… she started it!" the first boy stuttered out, "she attacked my mom for no reason!"

"No one does anything without a reason," Naruto drawled in boredom, dropping his eyes down to the two women still sitting on the ground, "I heard every insult you spoke of me. If you're going to insult someone make sure you're not within that person's hearing range." Naruto looked at the boy whose foot he still held in the air, "you should be ashamed of yourself Kaito. Attacking someone who has their back turned to you is a cowardly act and you," he turned his eyes back to the boy who attacked Hinata first, "Shiori, should be ashamed for attacking first and not asking questions. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. You would go further if you think first and act last, consider everything possible before deciding how to act."

"How dare you insult my son!" one woman hissed at him, "you motherless orphan! You know nothing! She attacked us randomly! She—"

"Has a kinder heart then you could ever dream," Naruto interrupted, "unlike you she actually represents the future, you only hold it back. I should hope you're not Kaito or Shiori's mother, if they had any brains they'd be embarrassed with your behavior. As for me being a motherless orphan…" Naruto closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, as if to steady himself for the coming words. The woman before Naruto shivered, her eyes widening in fear as she watched Naruto's closed lids open to reveal glacial blue orbs, eyes cold enough to freeze a demon's heart.

"My mother died with honor, you should know better than to insult someone who did what you could not. She sacrificed a future with my father and me to protect your future with your son, and for what? To let people like you call her names even though she took your place at death's doorstep? If you were a real woman you would acknowledge the sacrifice of every mother who died thirteen years ago instead of cursing them." Naruto spun on his heal and walked away, he heard someone turn to follow him so he stopped and looked over his shoulder just enough to double check their identity. "Hinata-san," Naruto spoke evenly, stilling her rushing steps after him, "you are the heiress of the Hyūga clan. You cannot socialize with someone the entire village has deemed to be less than dirt." Hinata jerked at the words, her eyes widening and her back straitening, "Thank you but for your safety, don't concern yourself with me anymore."

"But—!"

"Don't Hinata," Naruto ordered as he started walking away again, "Sunlight dose not greet the night. Nor should you sully your future for a mistake like me." He disappeared beyond the gates of the Academy, never seeing the frown of his teachers or the watchful eyes of the Hokage.

"Are you happy now?" Hinata asked softly, head bowed and fists trembling at her sides

"Good riddance," one woman murmured under breath, rising to her feet with one arm wrapped around her belly

"I—"

"Hinata," her father's voiced called out warningly

"What would you do if Kaito and Naruto were switched?" Hinata asked, her shoulders relaxed and her fists loosened, "what would you do if Naruto was your son and Kaito was him? Would you still curse him? Would you still hate him for something he had no control over?" Hinata lifted her face and stared miserably down at the woman, eyes over flowing with tears, "what mother hates her own child for something he didn't do?!" Hinata ran away before the woman could answer, she dashed for the exit and skidded around the corner.

"Naruto-san!" He looked up at her, surprise on his face, a tear freed itself and then a gust of wind strong enough to make Hinata cringe with its icy touch appeared. By the time it was gone and she could look at her crush again, there wasn't a trace of his presence left. Nothing was before her, the street was empty, only a single bouquet of flowers set at the base of the academy mural. Hinata stared at the flowers for a moment, her mouth trembling as painful realization crept up from her belly. She felt the heavy hand of her father settle on her shoulder and she leaned against him, silent tears rolling down her cheeks.

"He still loves her," Hinata whispered, "even after all this time, he still loves her." Her father sighed as she buried her face in her hands, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably. "How daddy? How can I compete with her? She's dead and he still loves her! How can I compete with that? How can I compete with a _dead girl?!_ " Hiashi closed his eyes, trying to beat back the memory of hinata's mother and carefully reached out to his eldest, turning her slightly so she could cry on his chest instead of in her hands.

"Your mother once told me that love is like a field of wild roses," her father answered slowly, "no two flowers look the same but they all have thorns, some more than others. In the end only you can decide if the scars from the thorns are worth capturing the rose." Neither saw that Kaito and Shiori had followed Hinata, several kids from their class did, but stopped at the edge of the gates, listening to Hinata with blank expressions.

"Do you see that Iruka-kun?" Hiruzen asked softly, watching how some of the children looked at their patents and walked away from them, leaving the adults behind at the academy.

"Sir?" Iruka questioned

"Ah, there you are Iruka-kun," a familiar nurse called out, smiling as she approached him, "I've been looking for you—oh! Lord Hokage! Please excuse me for not seeing you!" She said loudly, bowing deeply to him, earning an amused chuckle from the old man.

"No harm done Nao-Chan," Hiruzen smiled warmly at her, "please pretend I'm not here."

"Um, okay," Nao said slowly, "uh, as per your request Iruka-kun, I double checked Naruto-kun's eyes and compared him to a few other test results and discovered that your suspicions were correct."

"I was right?" Iruka asked in surprise

"Yes," Nao nodded, "Naruto Uzumaki is color blind. Yet contains a twenty-twenty vision, from close range, middle range and even long range, his sight almost appears to sharpen on farther objects."

"So he's color blind but literally has perfect vision," Iruka murmured looking at the file, "I knew he had keen sight but this is… not what I was expecting."

"Hm, since he is color blind I do belief there is an exception to the rule for producing illusion clones, yes?" Hiruzen asked no one in particular, "ah yes, they do, only one or two Illusion clones in perfect physical description of their person is required. Being color blind they are incapable of adding color to clones, which is why they only have to focus on details and not colors."

"Ah if that's the case then Naruto passed the exams!" Iruka shouted in realization, "I have to go tell him!" He was gone before he realized that the two mother's Hinata hit earlier were scowling at the ground, their sons were staring at them with blank expressions, as if they didn't know what to say or do in regards to their mother's anger towards the boy they knew as sunlight.

"Lord Hokage," Nao called softly with a playful smile, "What are you thinking about?"

"The future," Hiruzen answered with a heavy sigh, "it's a complicated mess of knots and tangles."

"What are you worried about lord Hokage?" she asked, tilting her head to the side curiously, "surely two heads are better than one, three are even better, can you tell me? Maybe we can help"

"Little Nao you are by far to kind for your own good," Hiruzen chuckled, smiling at her, "You needn't worry about me but perhaps you should stick close to Iruka-kun or Naruto-kun."

"Y-Yes sir!" Nao blushed brightly, her summer blue eyes widening in excitement as a girlish, almost childish, giggle escaped her. Hiruzen smiled at her more than obvious crush on a certain Chunin, now he just had to make sure Iruka figured it out in time.

…

* * *

…

Sitting alone on his apartment building balcony, Naruto watched as the sun began to touch the distant horizon, tinting the sky in shades of gold and pink. He had been sitting there since he left the Academy because he knew the girls would be disappointed in him, it didn't help that there was a person following him. In order to protect the girls like he promised, he would have to avoid the girls; the length of separation would depend on how long the stranger kept following him.

"Hello Naruto-san," he looked up at his follower, surprised that it was his math teacher and not someone who wanted to start a fight.

"Mizuki-sensei?" Naruto questioned curiously, "how'd you find me?"

"I looked up your address," Mizuki answered with a chuckle, "I wanted to talk to you after the testing but you left faster than I expected."

"Oh yeah? What did you want to say to me?" Naruto smiled cheerfully up at his teacher, his eyes closing as he smoothly hid his thoughts on the matter. He knew for a fact that wasn't right, the academy didn't know where he lives. He told the principal that he was moving and the old man took his file and kept it in his desk, waiting to be updated. After he paid off rent a year ago (the manager sat down and counted it all out, the amount paid his hospital bills, the six month debt he had and the following five years), he decided that he only crashed there when it was convenient for him, which meant that whenever he decided not to spend the night with the girls.

"Please don't be mad at Iruka," Mizuki requested as he sat on the edge next to Naruto, startling him with the sudden friendly attitude. "Because you're his favorite, he has to be that little bit harder on you. Otherwise it wouldn't be fair to the other kids, right?"

"I'm not mad at Iruka-sensei," Naruto replied, turning his attention back to the sunset, watching it paint his village in hues of orange and yellow. "I'm disappointed in myself. Sakura-Chan was the best at Illusion clones, she could pull off five of them when everyone else could barely produce one... I just... I just wanted to produce one clone she could be proud of."

"So the rumors are true," Mizuki sighed beside him, "you really were in love with one of the girls who died three years ago."

"I didn't know there were rumors about me," Naruto replied softly, his shoulders slumping a little as he stared at the ground far below himself. If what his teacher said was true then it's possible that the adults were paying closer attention then he thought they were. Naruto's eyes narrowed a little in thought and his lips twisted into a frown; he'd have to be extra careful from now on, epically if he wanted to keep the girls safe.

"Hay I know a trick you could use to pass the Academy," Mizuki said suddenly, drawing Naruto's attention back onto him, "if you're still upset about that I can tell you how to pass."

"Really?" Naruto asked curiously, wondering briefly why this alternative option wasn't discussed earlier, "how can I pass the academy without the illusion clone?"

"By mastering one technique from the scroll of forbidden jutsu," Mizuki answered, "if you master one thing from that scroll, then you can become a genin."

"If it's a forbidden scroll then isn't it kind of illegal to look at any of it before I'm of proper rank?" Naruto asked, Mizuki's smile turned a little stiff, as he hadn't expected that kind of response.

"Only if you get caught before you master the technique," Mizuki answered with laughter in his voice, "so long as you master one technique, you'll be fine."

"Where is it?" Naruto asked curiously

"In the lower level of the Kage tower," Mizuki answered, "in the room just below the Hokage's office."

…

* * *

…

Shikaku knocked breathlessly on the old wooden door, hoping the adult inside was still awake. The sudden crying of a baby made Shikaku flinch in sympathy, more than once Yoshino was ready to kill him for a sneeze in the next room over when Shikamaru was still a toddler. The door opened to a middle aged man with wild white streaked golden hair, sleep deprived agitated green eyes glared at him.

"Inoichi?" Shikaku questioned in surprise

"Shikaku?" Inoichi asked, adjusting his hold on an infant, pulling the little blonde higher on his hip.

"I knew you quite but I thought you still ran the flower shop," Shikaku shook his head ruefully, "who knew you would work at an orphanage?"

"I don't work here, I run it," Inoichi replied, pulling a bottle out of his pocket and sticking it in the kid's mouth, effectively silencing the toddler, "why are you here? Is the village in danger?"

"Ah, no—well, maybe," Shikaku answered, Inoichi stared blankly at him. "Um, this is Naruto Uzumaki's first home, I was wondering if you've seen him recently?"

"Yeah, he comes by every day to help with the kid's homework," Inoichi answered, "though he didn't come by today, is he in some kind of trouble?"

"We're trying to figure that out," Shikaku answered, "he stole the forbidden scroll—"

"Liar!" Inoichi and Shikaku flinched at the shrill shout, the toddler started fussing again, as if getting ready to wail with renewed vigor, "Naruto-nii would never steal!"

"Moegi-Chan," Inoichi groaned as he turned to address the orange haired little girl standing just behind him, "you're supposed to be in bed, young lady." He stepped aside to reveal the pouting little girl to Shikaku, in response to seeing his scares Moegi stepped back, as if considering him a threat.

"I was thirsty," she pouted at Inoichi and then shook her head, "don't distract me!"

"I didn't, you did that yourself," Inoichi sighed, "this isn't a conversation you need to worry about, I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding."

"It is a misunderstanding because Naruto-nii has told us countless times that if we want something we have to earn it!" Moegi shouted, "He'd never resort to stealing!" Inoichi sighed, his shoulders slumping as the toddler on his hip started wailing loudly in his ear, undoubtedly waking others upstairs as well.

"Moegi-chan?" a voice from upstairs called sleepily

"What's going on?" another asked, tiny feet started to move down the stairs

"Later," Shikaku said, leaving before his old teammate could stop him.

Hiruzen sighed as he watched Shikaku disappear before Inoichi could crab him and made his crystal ball sweep through every location he could think of that could contain Naruto. When he didn't find the blonde at the western forest where he watched three girls get killed, Hiruzen began to worry that perhaps no one in the village really knew the young boy. Was there no one in the village the boy turned to? No one he considered a safe place? No one he considered an ally? Where could Naruto go that not even his crystal ball could see him?

Realizing something, Hiruzen quickly double checked on Nao and Iruka. The later was racing through a dark forest in a blind panic, his thoughts clear on his face. Nao was… Hiruzen straightened in his seat, staring into the crystal ball with widening eyes. The young blonde was standing outside a plain cement wall, staring into a broken section, its pieces scattered out to make a half ring outwardly from the broken wall as well as a very well made arch overhead. Her sapphire blue eyes were staring at the arch dully, her head tilted to the side as if curious, one hand out stretched to hover against the air just over the scattered wall pieces on the ground, contacting only a single teal colored barrier. Did Nao find Naruto? Even if she did, what was she (and him for that matter) doing at the old abandoned Uzumaki compound? How did Naruto even find out about it?

Hiruzen took a steady breath and tried to see if the crystal ball could show him the inside of the compound, sadly nothing but static greeted his vision.

…

* * *

…

"You did what?" three voices sounded at the same time

"I stole the forbidden scroll," Naruto repeated sullenly, staring at the three unimpressed looking girls

"You're an idiot," Sakura replied first, after realizing that he was serious, "you're going to end up in jail and we're going to go insane with only each other as company."

"Nice imaging there Sakura-chan," Ino looked at her friend in mild annoyance, "You don't think we'll end up killing each other first?"

"Sakura has a point," Ami sighed, "if you go to jail we'll gonna go nuts and kill each other. Return the damn scroll before we're all screwed for eternity."

"But Mizuki-sensei said that I'll be fine so long as I learn one jutsu in this scroll before I'm caught," Naruto pouted, "I really, really want to pass this year."

"Stealing is stealing, Naruto," Sakura sighed in disappointment, "it's bad, wrong and can get you into some serious trouble."

"What if he can return it without anyone noticing him?" Ino asked curiously

"Ten bucks says they're already searching for him," Ami drawled, slouching against the table, "So why'd you bring it here anyways, Naruto?"

"Oh yeah," Naruto blushed and looked down at the scroll sheepishly, "I thought if I could learn something from it, maybe you guys could too…"

"What could we possibly learn from it?" Ino asked

"It's a forbidden scroll Naruto," Sakura reminded him, "Anything in it is at least Jonin level, _at least_. Do you seriously think we have the ability to do something in it that wouldn't take a week or year to do? You seriously think we can do it in a single night?"

"Well… maybe not but we can give it a try and if you guys still haven't mastered yours by the time I've got my chosen one down then we can make copies so you can keep trying," Naruto suggested, the three girls looked at each other, as if measuring their thoughts on the matter.

"How about we just make copies," Sakura suggested, "but only one technique each, that good?" the other shrugged or nodded their agreement with Sakura, earning a blinding smile from their blond guard.

"Pick a number between one and a hundred!" Naruto said loudly, nearly vibrating where he sat before them

"We're doomed," Ino sighed heavily, thumping her head on the table, "Ten."

"Why not? Fifty," Ami shrugged

"…uh, between one and a hundred?" Sakura repeated, frowning at the table thoughtfully, "how about a hundred?"

"The last one in the scroll?" Naruto asked, blinking at her, "Okay!" Sakura felt like a fool as Naruto put one end of the scroll beside Ami for her to hold onto as he went running around and around the room, unwinding the scroll for all to see the hundred plus length of paper containing different jutsus from end to end.

"Do you really think we can do this in one night?" Ino asked Sakura, her voice dropping to a whisper

"Nope," Sakura answered, "but if we can make copies we should be able to practice them without much worry about being caught and killed for treason."

"Sakura, everyone thinks we're dead," Ami reminded her bluntly, "Doubt anyone cares."

"Naruto cares," Ino snickered, "we wouldn't be here if he didn't."

"Enough teasing Ino," Sakura reprehended her, "Let's find our numbers and get this over with." She stood up just as Naruto stopped at the edge of the doorway, pinning the end of the scroll in place so it wouldn't roll back up

"Oh, uh, guys I miss countered!" Naruto shouted from the end, "There aren't a hundred jutsu in here, there are a thousand! You wanna change your numbers?"

"No," Sakura answered, "might as well roll it back up, stop at a hundred so I can do mine."

"Kay!" and around he went, rewinding the entire scroll till the three got dizzy watching him run around and around in perfect circles. "Done! Here you go Sakura-chan!" The tree girls stood up on the table and looked out around their stone room, slumping at the sight of the dozen rows of unending chakra paper waiting to be read.

"Alright, Naruto get over here and help Ami and Ino find their numbers!" Sakura ordered, "I'll get to the end somehow…" Naruto grinned at her and stepped onto one of the lines of the seal carved into the floor, instantly little stone pillars as tall as the scrolls all shot up in random spots, pinning the unraveled scroll in place and giving Sakura an almost perfect line straight to the end.

"Sweet," Ami grinned at the standing scroll sheets, "Can you get them to tell us which ones are numbers ten and fifty?" Naruto shrugged and jumped up onto the square piece of stone holding the end of the scroll in place, he looked around at the circular pattern and wondered if the placement holders could tell him which ones contained jutsu numbers fifty and ten. The response was that two taller prices rose up and pinned the scroll tightly in place, small round decals appearing on their top.

"You're a little show off," Sakura said suddenly beside him, startling Naruto into yelping and wobbling dangerously on his perch. "We already know the seal obeys you," Sakura snickered at him, "no need to rub it in."

"Sakura-Chan you scared me!" Naruto whined at her, earning an amused chuckle from her

"Thanks Naruto," Sakura said jumping down from the stone clasp and looking up at him with a smile that could melt hearts, "and I mean for everything you've done for us. You've kept us sane all this time. I don't know if Sasuke-kun could do that."

"I'll get the paper and pencils so you guys can write them down!" Naruto cheered in response, unable to contain his over flowing energy at the compliant from the pinkette.

…

Ino hummed as she jumped from pillar to pillar, easily finding her chosen number she slid to the ground with her grin widening. She stared up at the title of the jutsu and couldn't help but to cock an eyebrow at the title.

"What's Nature chakra manipulation?"

…

Ami landed before her number fifty, smiling to herself as she looked up at the technique, clasping her hands behind herself while she was at it.

"Chakra stones," Ami read aloud, "their uses on and off the battle field... blaw, blaw, blaw… huh?" Ami looked a little close to the creator of the technique she was going to use, her eyes widening as she gasped loudly. "Holy cow! This is the shodaime's technique for his healing chakra-stone pendent!"

…

Naruto looked up at the sound of an excited gasp, deeming it to be Ami being overly excited with her given technique, Naruto shrugged and returned to reading the first sealed away technique.

 _What is with everyone's obsession with clones?_ Naruto thought with a heavy sigh as he continued to follow the instructions of the technique.

…

…

Nao examined the broken wall, walking around its perimeter with her hands clasped behind her. As had been requested of her by her Hokage, she followed Naruto home and watched him carefully. Just as she felt Mizuki's signature approach she ducked a little lower behind the raised edge of the roof she hid on. She peeked over it once and saw that Naruto seemed to be addressing thin air and the moment he agreed to do something he disappeared too. Nao narrowed her eyes over the edge, she ducked back down and formed a few hand signs; activating the tracking seal on a slip of paper that she placed inside Naruto's jacket from when he left her office earlier that day. She followed the seal for a few blocks, making sure she wasn't within anyone's sensory range and then stopped when she felt Naruto slow down; a little while later she was able watch Naruto leave the Kage building with a large scroll strapped over his back. Just as she was about to follow him the alarm went off, she told the nearest Chunin to check it out and then dived after Naruto, hoping to catch up with him before he went too far. However she discovered that the boy was faster than she previously thought and fought hard to keep up with him, only when he entered the old clan compound did she feel trapped. She couldn't return to the kage tower because then every chunin and Jonin in the village who still hated Naruto would come tearing into the forest after him, deciding that he was a traitor first and innocent never. She had to remain waiting patiently outside of the clan walls and hope he would come out soon; otherwise she would be forced to inform Lord Hokage of his location and watch helplessly as he tore down the walls.

 _Where is Iruka-kun?_ Nao thought, turning to look back at the vast forest just behind her, standing like a dark sentry little less than a dozen feet from the wall. _Doesn't he know where Naruto-kun is?_ Nao sighed and slumped, walking to the edge of the entrance through the wall; she sat down and meditated, trying to concentrate on the location of the seal she placed on Naruto. Sadly every time she thought she got a location on him his seal would suddenly duplicate into a dozen others then drop back down to a handful only to jump back up to a dozen. It was as if the seal was fluctuating, she felt as if she put chakra into a rope and then someone took it apart and spread the finer hairs everywhere and was constantly re-weaving and shredding the rope repeatedly just to confuse her. Shaking her head Nao sighed heavily, she was getting a headache trying to locate the seal, it would be best to just wait for him to come out on his own.

In the mean time she could practice her meditation

…

* * *

…

Several long hours later

…

* * *

…

"I DID IT!" Naruto's shout was enough to make the girls nearly jump out of their skin, they all jumped up to their respective stone pillar to look at the center of the great seal they still stood in. Greeting their disbelieving looks were a dozen Naruto clones, all of them grinning like little mad clowns... or mischievous foxes. "Well how about you guys? You done?" the three looked at each other and promptly slumped together, answering his question.

"The only reason I'm not gonna thump him is because Mizuki-sensei said he can pass the academy so long as he masters one technique," Ino grumbled, climbing down from her post

"Well at least we don't have to worry about helping him learn his technique," Sakura chuckled, sliding down her post to start re-reading the inscription with bright glowing eyes. The girls returned to work copying everything down as it was written in the scrolls, ignoring the ecstatic blonde's giggling and dancing horde of clones.

"Shut up! I'm trying to work here!" Ino screamed, slamming a fist into Naruto's head, her anger didn't even dent his enthusiasm but it did disperse the clone. "Naru—"

"Is everyone done copying?" Sakura asked loudly, interrupting Ino's angry growl

"Gi'me a sec!" Ami called

"Almost!" Ino shouted hurrying to copy the last of the details, once the three were done Naruto ran full speed around the room, rolling up the scroll, each stone clasp disappearing seconds before he reached them.

"Alright I'm off!" Naruto cheered, flinging the scroll onto his back, "I'll be back tonight I swear!"

"Tonight?" The girls repeated, watching Naruto disappear beyond the doorway. Naruto raced across the field and jumped out the entrance, eyes gleaming and smile wide.

"I can't believe I did it!" Naruto cheered and then ate a mouth full of dirt, "ow~" Naruto pushed himself up and shook his head, pushing himself back he landed on his rump and breathed heavily for a moment, "I think I used... too much chakra."

"Naruto!" He had enough time to look up and yelped loudly as Iruka's fist landed atop his head, nearly knocking him out. "You idiot! What were you thinking taking the forbidden scroll?!" Naruto remained still as Iruka blew up in his face, the young man's own scared face red with anger, "did I teach you nothing?! You should know better than to steal! Do you know how much the village is in a panic because of what you did?!"

"Iruka-san,"

"What?!" Nao jumped back from him, tears flying to her blue eyes as she sniffled, looking like she might start crying. "Ah, I'm sorry Nao-san, I didn't mean to yell at you," Iruka said softly, looking like he regretted yelling in the first place; the blonde warmed up immediately, smiling goofily at him.

"It's okay Iruka-kun," Nao smiled warmly, "I was only going to say that Naruto-kun is hurt." Iruka blinked and turned back around to look at Naruto as he rubbed tenderly at his head with the newly growing bump on his head. True to the blonde's words, Naruto was scuffed up, looking as if he got caught in a rock slide and tangled with a few wire strung kunai knifes.

"Let's get your wounds tended too," Iruka sighed heavily, slumping as he crouched in front of Naruto, "If you want or need help with something, don't be afraid to ask someone, Okay Naruto?" the blonde stared at him with a pout and teary blue eyes, teary because his head still stung from the hit, nodding softly when Iruka gave him a look that said 'answer now!'

"Ah wait a moment Iruka-kun," Nao called crouching beside him, "do you feel that? His signature isn't as strong as it was this morning, it's awfully low now…" Iruka glanced at her before looking down at Naruto, focusing on the blonde's signature a little closer than he did before and frowned when he realized that he actually had to concentrate to feel the blonde's over powering chakra signature. "He's been practicing all this time, that smile he wore a minute ago, it must've been because he accomplished his clone jutsu."

"A clone jutsu from the forbidden scroll?" Iruka questioned softly, "Which clone jutsu is that?"

"The Kagebunshin," Nao answered with a warm smile, "hay why don't we—" Nao's voice cut off, her eyes wide as she watched blood spray between her and Iruka, partially covering Naruto's face. Then she was laying across Naruto's legs, her eyes clouded as her blood continued to pour out, forming a thick and heavy pool beneath her.

"Nao!" Iruka screamed as Naruto jerked his legs out from under the woman, staring horrified at her body. Iruka jumped forward to put his hands on her bleeding neck, hoping to stop the bleeding before she died from blood loss. However his hand was thrown back by another blade and he soon found himself blocking a dozen more blades just to keep Naruto from suffering the same fate as the medic.

 _I'm sorry Nao_ , Iruka thought as he batted away the last Kunai and readied himself in front of one terrified little blonde, trembling helplessly behind him, _please forgive me…_

"Not bad Iruka!" A familiar voice shouted from the top of a nearby tree

"Please, heaven no," Iruka lowered his kunai blade, disbelief sounding in his voice and a look of betrayal twisting his face, "Mizuki?" Before Iruka could comprehend the betrayal enough to realize he was a threat, Iruka found himself coughing as five kunai buried themselves into his body.

"Now didn't our teachers teach you better than that? You're not supposed to block with your body Iruka~," Mizuki mocked as he grinned down at him, leaning dangerously over the edge of his branch. "Oi! You wanna know a secret brat?" Naruto heard Mizuki's voice and the following secret passed to him but he could barely comprehend the words as his world fell apart; the conversation he remembered over hearing the year before surfacing in his mind like a torrent of wind. At the time he had been too busy to really stop and think about the girl's conclusion and had easily forgotten about it. Now their words were surfacing in his mind again, their conclusion of his parent's fates spinning round and round in his head as if it were some big clue to their identity. There were moments in the past year were his anger got the best of him and he repeated what they said and there were moments where he simply didn't want to acknowledge the demon's existence inside of himself. But no matter what he did or how he distracted himself, in the far back of his mind Naruto knew the Youndaime sealed the demon into him and that the villagers hated him because he was the keeper of the demon's cage. Yes, he knew and understood the reason for the cold glares, the spiteful whispers and the mistreatment but not once did he dare to belief that someone would spit the words in his face as if they were weapons.

" _you are the nine tailed fox_!" Naruto vaguely heard Mizuki's deranged laughter, he was so focused on the pooling blood reaching out to him from beneath Nao that he stopped listening to his teachers all together. Now Naruto was busy staring at his academy nurse, staring into her glazed sapphire eyes and the warm crimson liquid leaking from her neck. He remembered the first time he met her, the constant worrying and smothering over scrapes, the scolding for pranks and cheering during spars... and then the lessons, the gentle coxing, the soft encouragements. When Kado tainted the forest red, she tended to his wounds, when the demon pulled away from him, she had been there smiling like sunlight. When he rejected the demon, she scolded him for it, when he wanted to learn to fix what the demon broke, she smiled and led the way.

When his world turned into darkness, she stood up and blinded him with sunlight

"NARUTO!" Iruka cried, Naruto's blue eyes flickered to him, saw the shuriken and the panic on his teacher's face... and knew Iruka would not be able to save him in time, not without hurting himself. With a sudden burst of power, Iruka was suddenly on top of him, pushing him to the ground and allowing the weapon to burry itself into his back. Naruto stared up at his teacher, staring into his dark brown eyes over flowing with tears of memory and pain. For a moment he was confused, wondering what was wrong with his teacher but when he coughed and trickle of blood spilled past his tightly clenched teeth, Naruto felt his world stop. Before Iruka knew it, he was flying backwards as a power burst around Naruto, making the earth rumbled and the air tremble. Mizuki flinched as the power of the Kyūbi awakened and threatened to smother him in its fury, Iruka coughed as he landed and rolled, his world darkening as the image of a four tailed fox roared miserably at the sky imprinted itself in his memory. In the village, the shinobi flinched in memory, their eyes widening in terror; the Hokage jumped out of his office in a blind flurry of white robes and a sinking heart; and the newly graduated students all turned towards the waves of demonic power, unable to do anything more than stare in terror. The shinobi of the hidden leaf turned and rushed towards the haunted forest, readying themselves for the demon they were going to face, fearing for their village and the family they were leaving behind. A scream of agony echoed through the air, forcing over trees and forcing shinobi to skid and stumble to a stop, surrounding the four tailed jinchuriki like wiry animals. The four tailed mini Kyūbi didn't move from where it awakened, choosing instead to sit beside the paling body of a blonde medic, screaming miserably at the sky as if lost unable to understand what it should do next.

"Naruto!" Hiruzen shouted desperately, "Wake up boy!" The mini-demon didn't even look at him but looked towards the white moon high overhead and cried out again, a sound like heartbreak and misery. "Naruto!" Hiruzen cried, "You're not the demon inside! Wake up and remember who you are!" again the demon gave an ear shattering scream, suddenly the shinobi froze in their formations, their eyes widening as they each took closer looks at the small demon sitting beside the body of a woman. They watched hypnotized as tears started roll out of the demon's round eyes, searing the black scorched cheeks of the out of control child, and with every agonized cry of the demon another tear, larger than the previous, would drip down its face.

"Is… is it crying?" a chunin asked in disbelief, "Why would a demon cry?"

"The demon and the child," a kunochi whispered, "they're not… they're not the same…"

"Naruto!" Hiruzen shouted again, "Wake up now or you'll never be my successor!" the demon cried again but a tail did begin to shrink and the black skin receded into an orange cloak. Inside was Naruto, sitting on the ground, scrapped hands rubbing at his face as he screamed again, his tears tinting teal as little by little his third tail slowly began to receded.

"…That seriously worked?" a shinobi asked, staring incuriously at the orange glowing boy. It was then that the third tail disappeared but the two remaining orange tails remained behind, one tail curling around Naruto protectively and the other reaching out to the bleeding woman beside him.

" _N-Nao_!" Naruto cried out, " _Nao! Nao!_ " Hiruzen sighed at the wailing child in the field, he stepped forward slowly, not wanting to startle the little boy who's changed so much in the past three years. " _Nao! Nao!_ " Naruto wailed again, his eyes closed as he rubbed at his face, trying to remove the tears that refused to stop flowing, " _I-I-Iruka-sensei!_ " the sudden name change made Hiruzen stop, he sent a sharp look at a nearby Anbu agent and watched as the young man disappeared in search of the academy instructor, " _Iruka-sensei! Nao!_ " Hiruzen took in a deep breath and started walking again, he heard movement behind him but thought nothing of it, a sudden shout and the sound of whistling had him snapping around and blocking a large shuriken only to have kunai and shuriken fly past just out of his reach.

"Naruto!" Hiruzen shouted, looking over his shoulder to see that one of Naruto's tails had reached up and blocked the kunai, letting it slide inside of itself. Naruto sniffed and looked at Hiruzen, his blood red eyes dropping to shallow cut on Hiruzen's arm, in a second the blonde's tears stopped flowing and his eyes locked onto the man who had attacked him. Mizuki stood panting at the edge of several knocked over trees and a team of chunin, Naruto and Mizuki stared at each other a moment and then before anyone could blink, Naruto regained his third tail.

" _You!_ " Naruto bellowed out, his eyes narrowing as he snarled at the white haired man, " _you killed Nao! You killed Iruka-sensei!_ " The group of chunin closest to Mizuki looked at him with blank faces, hands drifting over their kunai pouches, readying to attack or defend. " _You hurt Jiji!_ " Naruto lowered himself into a crouch, as if readying to attack his once-teacher, " _it's your fault they're dead!_ "

"What are you talking about monster?!" Mizuki shouted in growing panic, "You killed them! You just don't want to admit it!"

" _Liar!_ " Naruto bellowed, appearing before Hiruzen in a flash, flinging the giant weapon away and crouching protectivly in front of the only man he considered to be his family. " _You who's surrounded yourself in misery and hatred have no right to call me a monster!_ " Naruto crouched lower, his chin nearly touching the ground, " _Hatred strengths the demon! And you've given him plenty of food!_ " Naruto burst forward, his three tails acting on their own to block weapons from Mizuki and the few meant to distract him by other ninja. With a roar Naruto leaped into the air, evading three jonin who tried to stand in the way and belted out a roar that pressurized the air and turned it into a bullet. Mizuki cursed and tried to dive out of the way but found himself restrained by two Anbu agents while a third erected a mud wall between them and the orange glowing boy. Naruto growled and took in a deep breath, ready to belt out a roar that would shatter the wall but stiffened as a white clothed form suddenly stood in his way. Hiruzen stood atop the mud wall with a gentle smile and arms spread wide, Naruto's eyes bugged comically as he tried to swallow the air he took in to perform the instinctual jutsu, he ended up landing in Hiruzen's arms and forcing up his lunch instead of a wind bullet. The agent behind the wall was less then pleased to be covered in second hand ramen, he was even more annoyed when the boy above him wrapped his glowing hands around his mouth as if to stop a second wave of puke from rising. Hiruzen snickered, ignoring Mizuki who tried to struggle in the agents hold, as he turned Naruto to face the other side of the wall where he could hurl freely without it hitting someone. While Naruto emptied his stomach for performing the wind bullet jutsu incorrectly, Hiruzen re-examined his surroundings; frowning at the concentrating medic hovering green palms over Nao's neck. Nao was a chunin medic, she was a splended healer but her true talent lied in her ability to deceive her opponents; for Mizuki to land such a fatal hit, she had to have been heavily distracted. only evSighing heavily, Hiruzen turned his attention to the Anbu commander he sent out earlier and was relieved to see Iruka braced against his side. The academy instructor was hurt pretty bad but was conscious and smiling at Naruto; looking like a father relived at the sight of his unharmed son.

"Naruto-kun," Hiruzen called when the boy was done hurling, his orange tails shrinking as his cloak slowly faded. "What you said about the demon…wait, how do you know about him?!" Naruto turned and whipped the drool from his mouth, his tiered blue eyes rolling towards Nao thoughtfully. Naruto watched as the medic pulled his hands away from No's neck with a heavy sigh but from the distance and dark of night he couldn't make out the man's expression and therefore couldn't tell if it was a good sigh or a bad one.

"I figured it out years ago," Naruto admitted, he didn't technically lie, he just didn't say the exactly when or how he figured it out. "When I questioned his existence inside of me he said that the fourth used me to seal him away to make me into a weapon for the village. He also mentioned that he was able to grow stronger because of my negativity but it didn't hold the same taste as the emotions of those who surrounded me." Naruto looked up at Hiruzen and gave him a sad smile, "the darker the emotions the stronger the demon."

"That's why you don't socialize with anyone," Naruto blinked and looked down at the familiar voice, tears sprang to his eyes at the sight of his favorite teacher. "you've been trying to starve him all this time," in an instant Naruto was flying through the air, crash landing in Iruka's arms and burying his face in the man's bloody chest. "That hurt Naruto," Iruka chuckled, gently patting the blonde's head with his free hand. Naruto sniffled, his arms tightening around the man as his hands wrapped around his back carefully, glowing gently in soft jade; brightening the dark night with his desperation to heal the man who showed him no hatred or loathing.

"You've mastered it," a soft voice whispered, "about time." Iruka looked over and saw a chunin medic carefully holding up Nao, who was smiling sleepily at them. Naruto sniffed and tilted his head towards Nao, his shoulders shaking as a new wave of tears tumbled down his cheeks. "It only took you six months," Nao chuckled weakly, "thank you Naruto-kun, thank you." Naruto went to pull away from Iruka but the man's heavy limb prevented him from pulling away completely before Nao was glaring at him. "A medic heals one patent at a time!" Naruto jumped at the anger in the older blonde's voice, "you've healed me enough, now tend to your teacher." Iruka chuckled at Naruto as he gave him a pathetic look of pleading.

"Go on," Iruka smiled, patting his student's head affectionately, "see Nao-chan for yourself." Naruto nodded and left Iruka to the Anbu agent who was still holding him up, ignorring the other shinobi around him, Naruto hurried to Nao's side.

"Nao-San," Naruto called as he slipped into a kneeling position beside her, even taking up her hand and holding it close. "Are you okay? Should you really be talking right now?"

"It was a shallow wound," Nao informed him, "your friend healed me enough to stop the bleeding and close the wound. I was only unconscious because of shock and exhaustion." Naruto frowned at the information, he wasn't aware that the demon could heal and he was even more baffled as to why the demon would bother with healing Nao of all people.

"What were you exhausted over?" Naruto asked, choosing to ignore the curious bit of information and focus on the more important info. "I get that your body went into shock because of the severed artery but…"

"I spent the entire evening trying to sense for your location," Nao answered him with a disappointed look, "you are too damn good at hiding your presence."

"I learned from the best," Naruto smiled at her, "besides if I known you were trying to follow me I would've led you to my special place."

"I did follow your tracks Naruto-kun," Nao huffed at him, "why did you hide there? Why not the orphanage?"

"The orphanage is in enough trouble because of me," Naruto murmured as he looked away, "I knew bringing the forbidden scroll to them would only bring it more trouble, I couldn't do that to Tomoe and the others."

"The children wouldn't have gotten hurt for your actions," the medic propping Nao up frowned at him, Naruto gave him a sad smile

"Clearly you've never been to the orphanage," Naruto commented, "if you have you'd never assume that. I go to the orphanage every day to find someone with a broken arm or a black eye. I escort the children home so they don't get into fights with other kids but also so no one can mistreat them."

"Oh Naruto-kun," Nao spoke, her voice soft and sad, "you can sense them can't you? People's emotions…" Naruto turned his face away from her, staring at the dark bloody grass at her feet, it was quiet as those who dared to get closer to them wandered over silently.

"Naruto-kun," Hiruzen called softly, drawing the boy's attentions towards himself. "Can you sense people's emotions?" Naruto didn't speak for a while, just starring at the dark grass with a blank expression. "Naruto," Hiruzen called softly, like a heart broken whisper. Naruto closed his eyes and nodded slowly, promoting a sad sigh from his grandfather figure.

"The darker the emotion… the clearer they are," Naruto admitted, "that's why I hide every October, the village becomes stiffing with negativity. Thick and dark enough that I get headaches and can hear the Kyūbi cackling in joy as he grows stronger and stronger. Sometimes he gets strong enough to test the seal and I run here to this forest because… to me it's like this forest eats up the negativity and makes him too weak to fight the seal." The surrounding shinobi shifted uncomfortably, looking meek and submissive as they glanced around each other, like scolded children who didn't know what to do. Hiruzen sighed and ruffled Naruto's hair affectionately, both watching with sad eyes as the medic tending to Nao lifted her up and disappeared into the tree line; deeming their presence unneeded. He turned to address a nearby shinobi but instead found one of his agents carefully bringing forward a limping Iruka, blood still dripping from his leg. He was about to scold the man for not taking the chunin to the hospital sooner but stopped when Iruka gave him a smile and softly addressed Naruto.

"Naruto-kun, can you show us your clone jutsu?" Iruka called out, surprising the boy, "Don't look at me like that. I know you've been practicing all night, now hurry up and show us. Produce as many clones as you can," Naruto blushed and made his hand sign, in less than a blink of an eye the field was filled with white smoke. When the wind blew through and removed the white cloud, it revealed an army of embarrassed looking Naruto's all standing around in confusion.

"Oh my," Hiruzen breathed with wide eyes

"Lord Hokage," Iruka smiled at him knowingly, Hiruzen glanced at him and nodded, smiling as the real Naruto stood to his full height. "Come over here Naruto-kun," Iruka instructed, "and close your eyes." Naruto frowned at him but did as instructed, standing before Iruka with closed eyes and a confused expression, when he was ready Iruka stepped away from his student with the Anbu agent's help. "Okay now, open them," Naruto did and he found himself staring at his teacher, finding it strange to see the man without his headband but noticing how there wasn't a single mark or bruise on Iruka's forehead.

"Congratulations Naruto-kun, you're a genin!"

…

* * *

…

 **So I know its been a while but I did what I could without a laptop and only a two-hour access at the library, plus its cold out and I have an hour walk home from the library, not something I usually do for the hell of it**

 **I'm sorry for the wait, I know it must've been annoying I know I was**

 **please tell me your thoughts and opinions, especially about the sealed away talent that Sakura ended up getting to learn because I honestly only wrote about Ino and Ami finding there's and I've yet to come up with a possibility for Sakura's sealed away technique.**

 **I'm working on my other stories as much as i can but like I said, two hours (even daily) isn't enough to work on all of my stories, I can only do so much**

 **I hope you liked this chapter**

 **page 18**


	5. Chapter 5

**Fate, Destiny and Existence**

Chapter 5: Prank gone wrong

Koomahana

 **Edited as of May 9, 2018.**

 **Almost all editing in later half of chapter**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site**

 _Thoughts_

 _Paragraphs are flashbacks_

…

* * *

…

Naruto was walking with Iruka back into the village, a sad smile on his face as he the growing crowds of the streets, absentmindedly bobbing his head at familiar faces. He had wanted to show Nao his head band when he graduated the academy and then to tell her he would train hard to be like her. He didn't care that no one liked medics, he didn't care that they didn't do a lot of fighting, he didn't care that he would be support for the team, he didn't care that jinchuriki were supposed to be battalion types only. He promised he would make his parents proud of him, he promised to never use the Kyūbi's power, he promised to protect the girls relying on him, he promised to repay Nao for all the love and acceptance she showed him since they first met. Becoming a genin medic was the first step, working in the hospital would be the next and then someday he would be able to be respected in the hospital like Nao was. He was still worried about her… he wanted to head over to the hospital right away but Iruka said she wouldn't be there, though he also didn't know where Nao would be. Jiji told them that after the reassurance of a few other top-class medics, Nao would give her report to him and then meet them later in the day, but he also didn't specify _when_ that was going to—

"Hay Naruto," Iruka called, bumping his shoulder and making the blonde stop walking to look up at him curiously. "Look up there," Iruka smiled, "someone's waiting for you." Curious, Naruto turned to look up the road, searching for the person his teacher was speaking about. The first person he saw was a dark-haired girl standing in the middle if the road, looking at him with determined purl violet eyes, a single white bag in hand. The next person he saw stepped out of the academy gate entrance, a pale sky-blue bag in hand and a soft smile on her lips, dressed in a familiar white uniform of medics. She turned, looked up and her shinning blue eyes danced at him, looking for all the world as if she hadn't been in a fight since child hood. Naruto gasped and sprinted forward, the pale eyed girl looked at him in surprise, her eyes widening comically. When he ran past her, covering half her out fit in dust, he didn't look back, he just barreled himself into Nao's laughing arms.

"I thought you were dead," Naruto wailed onto the blonde, she stroked his hair fondly, smile never dropping

"Oh Naruto-kun," she cooed at him, snuggling onto his hold, "don't you know medics are notoriously difficult to kill?" He smiled, crying in joy and fear, joy because she was alive and fear because he nearly lost her forever and there was nothing he could do to save her. Far behind them, Iruka stopped beside Hinata and settled a hand on her shoulder, smiling down in to her surprised orbs.

"Nao is the only mother figure Naruto has," Iruka told her, "he was attacked last night and the traitor made him think he lost her forever. Please don't think he didn't see you, he was just more concerned with Nao, that's all."

"I understand sir," Hinata said softly, Iruka smiled and gently patted her forward

"Come on, class is about to start," they walked past the two blondes, Naruto refusing to let go of the woman as they walked into the Academy

"Don't scare me like that again," Iruka whispered into Nao's ear, just soft enough that Naruto and Hinata didn't hear him. Nao's face flared bright red and she quickly ushered the kids down the hall with Iruka, she however went and hid in her office, trying to bury her red face into an ice pack before anyone saw it. In class Naruto was looking out the window with a smile on his face, all too happy he was a genin and had something to report back to the girls. He was so distracted with is thoughts and plans, he never noticed the growing crowd of kids, every single one of them taking a seat away from him, as if creeped out or in awe of his cheerful attitude. Only Sasuke chose to sit in the same row as the blonde, he stared down at the black board in boredom and waited patiently for their teacher to arrive. The girls in the class were all too excited to start fighting over the seat remaining between the two boys, they were promptly silenced when a single midnight haired girl with purl violet eyes flipped down from the previous row and agile took the seat between the two boys. Opening a book, she proceeded to ignore the insulted shouting of the other girls, all because they never once stopped to think that the one who entered the seat first could sit there for the rest of the day.

"Alright, alright, everyone sit down and shut up!" Iruka called as he entered the classroom, the girls grumbled as they all took their seats in random orders, pouting like one big organism. Hinata smirked to herself and closed her book, tucking it into her bag as she waited patiently for her team assignment, hoping with all her heart that she was with Naruto. "You will be placed into three-man cells headed by a Jonin, now listen up as I say your names," he glared pointedly at two gossiping girls, who shrunk under his look but complied. "Team one: Natsuki, Hikari, and Jomei," Naruto sighed heavily, slumping in his seat as he listened to the teams being named.

Ayaka, Michiko, and Ichiro were a bad mix in every meaning of the word.

Ryoichi, Yoichi, and Akira were all Alpha males, they couldn't work together if you paid them too (and they would be paid to).

Suzuki, Kaito, and Ayane were a suicide match if there ever was one

Taro, Aimi and Mina might work, key word being 'might', Mina has gotten quiet since Ami's 'death' and Aimi thought she was a queen in the making

Tatsuo, Masaki, Shiori... Tatsuo was cocky, Masaki was dominant and Shiori was a space cadet, if they worked it would be a miracle

"Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki," he sat straight up in his seat, paying rapid attention to Iruka, "Takara Koizumi." Naruto frowned at himself, he didn't want to work with the bastard and Takara looked too much like Sakura for him to be comfortable around

"Hinata Hyūga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame," Hinata sighed and Kiba was grinning so broadly the girl sitting beside him thought his face was going to split in half

"Shikamaru Nara, Chōji Akimichi," the last student was sinking into her seat as if she could disappear from the class and Iruka would magically not call on her name. "And Nanami Yamanaka... Sit up in your seat brat, you're in class not at home."

"I bet if Ino were here, we'd be a team," Chōji whispered sullenly

"Just like our parents," Shikamaru agreed softly. He didn't know a lot about Nanami, but he knew that if their team didn't work out, he was going to quite the shinobi life for good. His nagging mother can't stop him this time, he'll quiet and take special training to be like his father, anything from having to work on a team without his blonde friend.

"Are we going to try to work with her?" Chōji asked softly

"We've got nothing better to do," Shikamaru sighed

"Hay we're all located close together!" Kiba shouted cheerfully, "that's a sign of good luck!"

"More like bad luck," Sasuke shot back under his breath, ignoring the irritated look Kiba gave him

"Say that again spoiled jerk!" Kiba challenged

"At least they're not completely doomed," the orange haired girl beside Kiba sighed as she rose to her feet and started down the stairs to switch places with Hinata, "they have Hinata, she should keep them from being killed too soon."

"Drop Dead Bastard!" Kiba roared jumping to his feet, ready to fight

"Kiba! Watch your language!" Iruka barked loudly, forcing the brunet to sit down with a loud thump. "now that everyone is with their teams, go get lunch, you'll meet your teachers later. Oh and no fighting!" Takara grinned back at him and Kiba groaned, already knowing the girl would say something and he would over react to her again.

"Well that's one doomed team," Naruto grumbled, pulling his bag over his shoulder

"Ah, wait a—" Naruto jumped out the window, Takara turned to look at Sasuke but he was already half way down the steps. "Ah, wait up!"

"Why?" Sasuke asked as he kept walking

"Because we're a team!" Takara answered as she slowed behind him, "we should eat lunch together and get to know each other better!"

"Are you stupid?" Sasuke asked bluntly, hurting her feelings without trying, "we're the top three students of the school, what else is there to know?" Takara slowed for a moment, frowning thoughtfully, she snapped her fingers as an idea came to her.

"How about we tell each other our likes and dislikes?" Takara asked, hurrying to catch up with him again, "I like—"

"Naruto?" Sasuke interrupted, earning a gasp from the not-quite-pink-haired girl, "the whole school knows that one."

"They do?!" Takara asked loudly, "does he know?" She asked softly, as if she was afraid he could still hear her.

"Doubtful," Sasuke replied curtly, "he's an idiot when it comes to people."

…

* * *

…

Naruto looked around himself for a tree he could climb, hopefully one big enough to eat his lunch without binging disturbed. Seeing a low hanging branch nearby, stationed almost directly over a stone bench, Naruto eagerly climbed it before ginning to chaw-down on his food. Hearing a sound in the distance, the blonde-graduate looked down in time to watch Sasuke turn off the main road of the Academy to take a shorter route to an empty building to have his lunch. Takara was close behind him, asking various questions as she followed him with her lunch in hand; amusingly enough, she looked like an annoying little sister trailing after her favorite big brother.

"Ah, let's have lunch here!" Takara suggested suddenly as she took a seat on a bench directly beneath Naruto, he rolled his eyes at her too-cheerful tone, as if she was just acting the part in a play. Much to his relief, she was dressed in a thick marron vest with a long bell sleeves of a pink and red tunic beneath, her black shinobi pants were accented by the typical shinobi gear and a not so typical giant dagger sitting warningly on her hips. Even the black leather arm-bands hid expertly hidden weight seals, they weren't hidden well enough from Naruto's curious eye sight but the average chunin or jonin wouldn't notice the small inscriptions.

"Why don't you go bug Naruto?" Sasuke asked, keeping his hands stuffed into his black pants, as if his black shirt wasn't dark enough; the boy just had to mimic Anbu agents.

"You scared to spend a little time with a girl?" Naruto asked, snickering when Sasuke stopped and started to look around himself quickly. "Up hear idiot!" They both turned at the sound of his laugher, staring at him in amusement, "what would you prefer it if I threw a flame goo at you instead?" Naruto asked, lifting the pastry for Sasuke to see, as if he still would.

"You better not loser," Sasuke ordered, "how'd you get up there?"

"It's called climbing bastard," Naruto grinned, "I thought being number one meant you were smart?"

"I'm smarter then you," Sasuke rolled his eyes

"Why don't you guys stop fighting and start eating?" Takara asked from where she sat, scooting over so there was more room on the bench

"Yeah right," Sasuke snorted and turned on his heal

"Sasuke Uchiha you will eat lunch with us or else," Takara warned lowly, Sasuke snorted in dismissal and kept walking.

 _Thwack_ … … …Sasuke sat at the bench with a black eye, trying to ignore Naruto's snickering.

"Stop laughing," Sasuke ordered suddenly

"You look like a wet cat," Naruto snickered, nearly falling off the bench as a new wave of laughter fell over the blonde

"At least I didn't fall out of a tree," Sasuke jabbed back

"I only fell because I was laughing at you!" Naruto barked loudly

"Boys," Takara said calmly, they both scooted away from her and mumbled apologies under their breath. Takara waited until she was done eating to address both boys, when she turned to see how far along they were, she saw their bentos were empty and they were looking at her wirily. "Naruto-kun I never hit you," Takara looked at him with hurt shinning in her eyes, as if she was going to start crying, "Why are you looking at me as if I have?"

"I saw how you hit Sasuke," Naruto replied, "That 'aint going to be me."

"Shut up Dube," Sasuke hissed, "I tripped!"

"She punched you in the face!"

"I fell on the ground!"

 _You both are pathetic_ , Takara thought. "Seriously we should start to get to know about each other, it'll help how we work later during missions."

"How is knowing each other's favorite foods going to help during missions?" Sasuke asked with a raised eyebrow

"I don't know," Takara shrugged, "but we don't know if we don't try."

"I like Ramen and girls," Naruto snickered suddenly, "that's pretty much about it!" he said loudly, bursting into uncontrollable laughter. Sasuke looked blandly at Takara, unsurprised to see she was blushing and there were stars in her eyes, clearly happy with her assumption of the blonde.

"And you Sasuke-san?" Takara asked, shaking her head as if to get rid of some thoughts

"Training," he answered bluntly, "Can we go back to class now?"

"No, lunch isn't over," Takara answered with a smile. "Naruto-kun do you like anything else? What are your favorite foods?"

"Ramen," Naruto answered with a grin, "pretty much just ramen."

"Nothing else?" she asked, slumping a little, as if disappointed.

"I like Ichiraku Ramen the most." Naruto said with a sweat drop, Takara sighed and slumped her shoulders. "Oh and Oshiruko! That's pretty good!"

"Ah really?" Takara asked, "What about what you don't like?"

"Bastard," Naruto answered bluntly, pointing at Sasuke

"Seriously?" Sasuke asked in disbelief, he wasn't surprised the blonde didn't like him but he was surprised he would say it so bluntly to a kid six years younger than them

"Yeah, I really don't like you," Naruto grinned at him, a challenge shinning in his eyes

"Boys," Takara said warningly, they both looked at her with slightly wide eyes, as if they feared getting hit by her, "Naruto-kun I meant what foods you don't like."

"Oh easy, uncooked vegetables."

"Is the only thing on your mind food?" Sasuke asked.

"Is the only thing on your mind about how sharp your kunai are?" Naruto asked back with a smirk.

"I need sharp kunai to do my job," Sasuke replied in mild confusion. Naruto stared at him, then started laughing uncontrollably.

"Ta-Takara he doesn't get it!" Naruto laughed as he fell to the ground, rolling and laughing, "He doesn't get it!"

"Honestly Naruto-kun," Takara leaned forward, watching him roll on the ground, "I don't get it either."

"You will!" Naruto laughed, "Whe-when you marry!" the two stared at him and then realization hit them.

"Dumb ass!" Sasuke shouted leaping at the blonde and commencing the fist fight; neither one noticed how Takara flat out feinted on the bench, her face red and glowing like a tomato lantern. Iruka went to pass the pathway back to his classroom when he heard the ruckus; he looked down the path see Naruto and Sasuke bashing each other's faces in and Takara laying on the bench with a red face. It was far from the first time that he found the two boys in a fist fight, it was the first time he saw the two boys fighting with a knocked-out girl nearby though. Listening to their cursing for a moment, Iruka tried to decide if he should interfere or just keep walking but never made a choice when he felt a hand tap his shoulder.

"Iruka-kun!" Nao greeted warmly, "Wha'cha staring at?" she looked down the path and blinked. "oh my, those two still haven't learned have they?"

"Doesn't appear so," Iruka answered, "I'm trying to decide if I should interfere or not."

"Naw its funnier to watch," Nao grinned at him, "Although we should properly move Takara-chan before they run her over…"

"That's a good idea," Iruka nodded and they both started walking down the path calmly, "Ah how're your wounds?"

"They're healing up great, thanks," Nao grinned at him.

"For what?" Iruka asked dumbly.

"For asking," she answered, blushing a little as she stopped and looked down, "Oh my, she really is out of it."

"Yeah, that happens from time to time," Iruka replied stooping to lift Takara into his arms. "stress is typically the cause."

"Really?" Nao asked, "Well that certainly explains why she visits me so often." Neither adult noticed how Naruto and Sasuke stopped mid punch to each other's faces, staring at them as if they expected to get hit by the two in question but were only stupefied to watch them lift Takara and then walk away as if they weren't fighting just feet away.

"Ah that's right, Nao-san how much time is left before class starts?" Iruka asked

"Oh about ten or so minuets," Nao answered, "the boys should be able to finish their fight and be back in class by then." the boys looked at each other, as if asking whether or not they wanted to continue the fight. Deciding to stop for now, they separated and grabbed their bentos; Sasuke grabbed Takara's and nearly had a heart attack. Her bento had four platters to it, he had seen them in the store before but thought it was four multiple people, not one.

"Is that a four stack?" Naruto asked, staring wide eyed at the purple rectangle. "I've heard of them but never seen one before, aren't those things expensive?"

Sasuke stared blankly at the blonde, "your joking, right?"

…

* * *

…

Takara woke up with a start, nearly screaming at the thought that she missed introductions and didn't even know who her Jonin instructor was. To her surprise she found herself in the classroom, her bento box sitting innocently beside her on the desk. Hearing a few curses, she looked down at the main floor of the classroom and saw that Sasuke and Naruto were fist fighting (again), she turned in her seat and saw that the room was thankfully empty. So instead of interfering with the fight, she crossed her arms and watched the fight with a smirk, finding their resilience amusing. When the door opened and a chalkboard eraser was followed by a bucket of white paint, Takara buried her face in her arms and tried not to show that she was laughing.

The boys however froze, staring at the man standing in the doorway as if he couldn't believe what just happened.

"When did you get the bucket up there?" Sasuke asked Naruto curiously.

"When you weren't looking," Naruto answered with a smirk, pushing Sasuke off so he could answer.

"I suggest you start running," the man said as he stepped forward threateningly.

"Relax old man!" Naruto laughed and threw both arms behind his head, "it's just milk mixed with flower!" The man ran one hand through his hair and flicked it against the floor, creating a line of white dots. Naruto paled a little as the man looked at him with pure black eyes, an expression in them that spelled death. Takara leaped out of her desk and tackled both boys to the floor before the white coop could hit them and jet in her seat at the desk.

"Run," Takara ordered in pure terror, scrambling to her feet and throwing the boys out the window before they could respond and quickly jumped out the window just as the man threw net at them.

"Why is it every time you do something, everyone else gets punished?!" Takara asked as she ran between the two boys, "and what else was in that mixture?"

"Nothing!" Naruto shouted, barely managing to dodge a kunai before it could cut him, "I swear it!"

"Bull!" Takara shouted, "I can smell him from here!"

"Well," Naruto said slowly, as if in thought. Suddenly he flinched, as if he just realized a mistake, "the milk... might've been a touch bad..."

"Idiot!" Sasuke screamed, leaping off the ground to back flip over a barrel. "he's going to kill us because of that!"

"We could always let him catch us," Takara said but when she glanced behind herself at the man chasing them, she only saw death. "Never mind! He's not worth it!"

"Let's separate!" Sasuke suggested

"Not on your life!" Takara screamed, "He'll hunt us down and we'll still have to deal with him!"

"So we all have to hide somewhere?!" Sasuke asked, "together?!"

"We're a team, get used to it!" Takara barked at him

"I know a place!" Naruto shouted, "But in order to get there I need to make clones and he might destroy them before I can finish them!"

"Alright!" Takara shouted, grabbing Sasuke's wrist and skidding to a stop, "drop your smoke bombs!" Sasuke didn't hesitate, the man ran straight into the white and purple cloud, skidding to a stop inside he relied on his nose to find them.

"Kage bunshin!" Naruto screamed and the cloud grew three-fold.

"Come out here little brats," the man called out, sounding as angry as a wolf ready to kill, "I promise I won't hurt you."

"Yeah right!" Takara screamed, the man stiffened she something wet and slimy smacked him in his face, stinging his nose with the scent of rotten fruit.

"What was that?" Sasuke's voice sounded.

"I thought it was pillow of some sort... but my hand is slimy," Takara answered slowly, disgust mixing with confusion tilted her high voice

"Forget about that let's go!" Naruto shouted loudly, just then the smoke cleared and the three found themselves staring at the man directly between them

"How'd that happen?" Sasuke asked slowly.

"No clue, run!" Takara answer diving into the nearest alleyway, the boys were quick to dive into the nearest street crowded with the most people. The man snarled and dove after the girl first, she threw rotten fruit in his face; granted it was accidental, she still did it so he was going to punish her first. Takara screamed when she saw him chasing her and her speed almost picked up but when he was able to grab hold of her and pulled her back towards him, she burst into a white cloud of smoke.

If he wasn't going to kill them before he most certainly was going to do so now.

…

* * *

…

Naruto slipped into his apartment building disguised as his favorite blonde with purple eyes, the transformation he's named 'Tsubasa'. Inside his apartment was Sasuke and Takara, both panting and melting on his floor, they both looked up at 'her' and stared blankly.

"Nice to see you make it," Naruto grinned, dispersing his transformation and running towards his desk.

"Dude, that's not cool," Sasuke said.

"What? Do you have a crush on Tsubasa-Chan?" Naruto teased

"He's right Naruto," Takara panted in her seat, "that was way too—"

"Oh crap," Naruto gasped, stilling in his search, turning terrified blue eyes onto Takara.

"What did you do?" Sasuke asked, straightening in his slump against the bed.

"I'm sorry Takara," Naruto said, he slapped his hands as if praying, "may tho rest peacefully in the next realm free of the terror of the man chasing us."

"Quite scaring me and tell me what's going on!" Takara screamed at him, in response he tossed her a small teal tear drop on a black cord and tosses a matching one at Sasuke

"Put these on and don't lose them," Naruto ordered simply, "Takara-chan, I suggest you transform into someone else. So hear, pick one," he handed her a picture frame and she stared down at the image dumbly.

"Who are these girls?" Takara asked slowly, looking up at her teammate unsurely.

"They're the different transformations I've completed," Naruto answered her bluntly, "hurry up he's almost here." Sasuke scrambled over and stared at the picture containing five beautiful girls

"The blonde with purple eyes is taken," Naruto said as he transformed into said blonde.

"Hi! My names Tsubasa! Nice to meet you!" The bubble girl greeted them warmly, her voice high and squeaky

"I call blue eyes," Sasuke said, quickly transforming into the girl at the far end of the line. Except he messed up and instead of achieving brown hair he managed a russet golden color, as if he mixed the two images of the blond Tsubasa with the brunet standing beside her.

"No fair Sasuke! I was gonna take her!" Takara whined.

"No, its best that Sasuke got Momoko," Tsubasa replied, "she's depressing, laid back, quick to use sarcasm and next to no one likes her."

"Who'd you model her after?" Sasuke asked, his voice breaking half way into a higher pitch.

"Take a guess," Tsubasa giggled.

"You'll pay for that," the Uchiha hissed, his newly minted sapphire eyes smoldering at the blonde like embers.

"Oh, I know! I call Haruko!" The two blondes looked at Takara curiously, Sasuke raised an eyebrow and Naruto cocked his head to the side, "transform!" Takara shouted and not a second later a new girl was standing in her place. Shorter then the other two by a foot, the platinum blonde giggled at them helplessly, bright violet eyes shining at them like gems.

"Nee-Chan let's go!" The little girl giggled loudly, latching herself onto Tsubasa. "I wanna a new dress!" The two disguised boys sighed heavily, as if they already knew what to do.

"Alright but we have to get dressed, understand?" Tsubasa asked like a dotting big sister would, Haruko and Momoko both looked down at themselves, as if noticing their bathing suits for the first time. Momoko looked like she was ready to kill and might've said something that broke her cover if not for someone landing on the balcony and slamming open the door. The three girls froze and stared at the white painted man standing stiffly in the balcony doorway. Tsubasa was the first to scream shrilly, electing startled shouts from her neighbors, the stranger in goopy-white launched himself inside. Momoko and Haruko were quick to shrike themselves, crashing into the corner of the room next to the bed, as the man tackled Tsubasa and thwacked her on her platinum blonde head the other two girls were enveloped in white smoke, revealing their true identities as Sasuke and Takara.

"You damn brats!" the man snarled, hooking one arm around the platinum blonde as he turned to glare furiously at the other two.

"I'm scared!" Takara cried as she latched onto Sasuke's arm.

"Ya think?!" Sasuke barked as he tried to shrink himself in the corner. The man took a step towards them, looking like a humanoid rainbow-goop-monster, whatever attack he planned to deliver was interrupted by loud pounding on the door and frightened voices.

"Tsubasa-chan! We heard screams!" one woman shouted

"are you okay?!"

"Tsubasa-chan! Answer us!"

"What's going on?!" that voice was mescaline, seemingly calming the women outside the door easily. Within moments the door was slammed open, a middle-aged man with graying brown hair and frightened amber eyes stumbled in, a dozen middle-aged women and young house-wives spilling in after him.

"Tsubasa-chan!" the man called, "What's going on?"

"Manager, don't freak out, but I passed the academy." Tsubasa said calmly from Kakashi's headlock. "My sensei was late, so I pulled a prank on him. I tried to escape his wrath by fleeing home but as you can see, that failed."

"Ah I see," the man said as he straightened his posture and bobbed his head in understanding. "and those two hiding in the corner are your teammates?"

"yes," Tsubasa answered simply. "Sasuke Uchiha and Takara Koizumi."

"Uchiha?" one of the old woman murmured, a frown twisting her plump face.

"Koizumi?" a young woman murmured, "Tsubasa-chan, please tell me you're joking."

"huh? No, why?" the brown haired young woman looked at the cowering children, as soon as she realized that Takara was only six or so years old, the frown on her face smoothed out into a look of shock.

"Do you have a problem with my student's ma'am?" the human-goop asked, his tone dripping with annoyance.

"The Koizumi clan is just new and strange, that's all," the woman smoothly covered her dislike with a flawless truth. "I'm worried about Tsubasa-chan's wellbeing, especially since the man claiming to be her teacher is covered in an unidentifiable goop which clouds his own identity."

"it's a mixture of milk and flower," Tsubasa grinned, "it's a pretty sturdy glue."

"…don't forget the milk is spoilt." Takara murmured, thinking no one could hear her.

"Say what?" the man flexed his arm, making Tsubasa grunt as her windpipe closed a little more. "you used what?!"

"as Tsubasa-chan is apparently unharmed and has passed the final test, I suggest we all go out to eat too night!" the manager said as he clapped his hands. "Tsubasa-chan we'll understand if you can't make it. I'm sure there's lots your new teacher wants to teach you."

"No! don't leave me!" Tsubasa's voice strained, tears pricking her violet eyes.

"yes, there is _lots_ and _lots_ I must teach me new team." The white-goop agreed, "Starting with _manners._ "

"'ave me," Tsubasa whimpered, her voice cutting off as Kakashi flexed his arm muscle.

"Come now Tsubasa-chan," the manager grinned at her as he slowly closed the door after himself. "you weep what you sow."

"…that's cruel." Tsubasa groaned.

"And just where do you two think you're going?" freezing at the porch doors both Sasuke and Takara stilled, hoping they weren't caught. "Now I know you two weren't about to abandon the boy just saved the two of you."

"nope," Takara answered, Sasuke's answer was to leap out the window, leaving both of his teammates behind as he fell towards the ground. "I would never…"

"you suck at lying Takara." Tsubasa replied dully. Takara's answer was interrupted by a giant black bull dog leaping onto the porch, nearly breaking it as it rushed inside; thrashing Takara aside into the kitchen counter.

"Let go of me!" Sasuke ordered, struggling to free himself from the giant dog's gentle but sharp teeth.

"Thank you bull," the man said kindly. The giant dog in question dropped Sasuke on the wooden floor and, before the boy could scramble to his feet, promptly laid on him.

"Damn it! I said get off!" Sasuke bellowed. Takara slowly stepped away from the balcony and gently closed the glass door. "Koizumi! Get it off!"

"I'm a dog and the name's Bull," the giant dog growled. "And here's some info kid. Dogs roam in packs and we follow only one leader. That leader, _isn't_ you."

"Good boy," The man praised, earning a goofy smile from the giant dog. "Now then," the man let go of Tsubasa and stepped back, his one visible eye scrutinizing her. "About this look…"

"For your information old man, you nearly ruined everything!" Tsubasa hissed at him. "Do you know how I've been able to stay in this apartment for as long as I have without trouble? It's because of this face!" She slapped a hand to her chest and scowled at him. "Do you know how I get through the village unharmed? This face! Do you know how I can shop for clothes, tools, food, and everything else?"

"That hideous face?" Sasuke questioned

"It's prettier than yours!" Tsubasa snapped at him.

"Regardless of your reasons, they will be addressed later and by the Hokage, not me." The man replied as he leaned against the counter. "Bull, let Uchiha up. Koizumi-san, please stand beside your teammates." Sasuke scrambled hurriedly out from under the giant dog, glaring distractingly at it. Bull steadily ambled over to the closed glass door, putting his wet nose on Takara's arm, gently guided her back towards her teammates before taking a seat in front of the door. Takara stared at Bull in utter awe before remembering her task and hurriedly moved to Sasuke's side.

"I want you two too transform into the previous girls again," the man ordered. Sasuke and Takara shared confused looks but did so directly. "Now, Tsubasa-san, correct?"

"Yeah," she flipped a long strand of platinum hair over her shoulder. "And?"

"Do you see any faults with their transformations?"

"huh?" Tsubasa blinked and looked at her teammates, a mischievous grin split her face. "Oh, several straight off the bat."

"What's the point of this?" Sasuke asked, not bothering to disguise his voice.

"make that a dozen, just on him." Tsubasa grinned as Sasuke glared at her.

"so long as we're in the village, should we need to socialize with each other, I want us to do so in these specific forms." The man said. "there for, our training in disguises commences imminently."

"huh? But what about the test?" Takara asked

"What test?" Tsubasa and Sasuke asked at the same time.

"Jiji said there's a final test for graduates to become genin and that each test is as unique as the instructor fiving it." Takara explained, as if the answer was obvious.

"And you would be correct Koizumi-san." The man agreed, bobbing his gooey-head in agreement. "On second thought, your first training assignment will be tomorrow at seven in the morning in training ground seven. Don't eat breakfast." With that he and bull were gone, leaving the three teammates behind in a cloud of dust.

"So, wait, let me get this straight," Takara turned towards the boys. "Is his first test the perfection of your teenage girls, Uzumaki-san?"

"Certainly, sounded like it." Tsubasa spun on her toes and pointed a finger at them. "Bastard! You're too short! Too much muscle, your coloring is off, your clothes are all kinds of wrong and you're not wearing make-up!"

"Guy's don't wear make-up!" Sasuke barked back, releasing the transformation to scowl freely at Naruto.

"Takara-Chan! You're too…did you even change anything? You look the same time me."

"Of course, I made changes!" Takara barked at him, "My hair's orange but its brown now!"

"it's more amber-like, which is a orange-brown color by the way. Your eyes are the same color, your height is the same, your skin tone is the same, your muscle mass is the same, and you're in a one-piece navy-bathing suit."

"Anything else?" Takara hissed at her, in answer Tsubasa lifted the picture she tossed at them earlier.

"Both of you suck at transformations." Takara glared at the auburn-haired kid she was mimicking. Her character, the one she named Haruko, had thick red-brown locks with huge curls framing her round angelic face. Her skin was a dark cream, like almond milk, and eyes that were large, jade green and nearly perfectly round. She wore a flattering crimson one-piece bathing suite with a hot-pink skirt edged in white flowers. Her ears were pieced with little pink cherry blossoms to match the pretty pink flower hair pins in her hair and the pendent wrapped snuggly around her neck. On her wrists were several golden bracelets to match the thick golden anklets and tan sandals that wrapped up her calves with golden beads interspacing the braided twin.

"okay… point taken," Takara sighed, "You sure did put in a lot of effort for these images." Out of curiosity Takara's eyes wondered over to 'Momoko', wondering just how Sasuke's transformation was. It was a strange thought on her part, typically Sasuke was the best at transformation out of everyone in the class.

"huh?" blinking in confusion, Takara looked at Sasuke before looking at the photo again. "Uchiha-san… which one did you pick?" Sasuke had chosen to pick Momoko but the Momoko in the photo was tall and thin with squinty black eyes and hair the color of sunset violet. Sasuke's transformation was of a dark brunet with closed eyes, pale skin, shorter then 'Tsubasa' by a foot and clearly had more weight to her then what the photo indicated.

"He chose Momoko, the one next to Tsubasa," Naruto's lower boyish voice slipped through Tsubasa's mouth like an uninterested cat. Takara's eyes winded, her breath hitched as she looked back at Momoko in the photo. The girl appeared to be all elbows and knees in her simple layered kimono of navy, the under-kimono a lighter pale blue to accent the darker and sleeveless outer-Kimono. She had a simple looking white fan decorated with swirling blue waves and a pretty seashell trinket dangling from the end. Her long dark locks were half pulled atop her head in an integrate braided-bun and held in place by several silver hair pins that suspiciously looked like decorated senbon.

"I'm impressed," Takara murmured.

"By what?" Sasuke asked as he released the transformation of Momoko, his eyes narrowed suspiciously at her.

"How bad you messed up." Takara replied cheerfully, only yelp when Sasuke smashed a fist into her head, the pain making her release the transformation. "Owy! Onee-san he hit me!"

"Yup, that he did." Tsubasa grinned. "Now then, Bastard, you have to make Momoko at least a foot taller than yourself. I noticed that you made her the same height as you but she's taller then you. Don't forget that she has raisin hair, raisin is the darkest shade of purple that there is so don't forget it. Her eyes are the color of ebony which is the darkest color of gray. Her skin is the color of caramel butter, have you seen that? It's a really dark shade of tan that's one step away from brown."

"Wow Uzumaki-san, you really put some thought into her." Takara said, her pale eyes wide in awe and surprise. "oh yeah, you said you made up personalities for them too, right? What was hers?"

"Momoko-chan is sarcastic, mean, and usually laid back but she also has the habit of calling everyone by their last name and using 'san' to regard everyone around her." Tsubasa explained, giving the shorter ginger a wicked looking grin. "When I said next to no one likes her, I meant no one our age likes her. All the grannies around here call her 'hime' and seem to adore Momoko like she was their own. I have no idea why though."

…

* * *

…

When Sakura woke from her nap, she found the strange seal walls were up again. Sighing in exasperation, Sakura sat up to the table and picked out another book about the human body. If she wanted to help Naruto, she had to read more about healing. If she understood more about it, she could explain it to him better. He wanted to be a medic-nin, to save lives, like how he saved theirs. But he wasn't exactly the brightest lightbulb in the pack. She wanted to help him, for now, that meant knowing more about healing then him. It was the only way for her to repay him for all he's done for them. The table gave an awful jerk, startling Sakura as a distant sound vibrated the walls.

"Oh for heaven's sake!" Sakura huffed in annoyance, "When are those two ever going to learn?!" whatever experiments Ino and Naruto did, it almost always blew up in their faces. Sakura didn't know what the two were up too, as the two never wanted to diverge any information on the experiments, but she at least knew that a strange sound would threaten to break the silence of their individual rooms. Admittedly though, this was the first time the table was involved in their experiment, she's never seen it shake that bad before.

"I swear," Sakura huffed as she settled away from the table, trying to ignore the shuttering it gave occasion. "If those two keep experimenting like this, they'll break the table. I hope those two idiots are being extra careful to take care of it." Unknown to Sakura, on the other side of the wall, two blondes stilled in their movements, watching Sakura leave the table before daring to continue what they were doing.

"she notice yet?" Ino asked, looking panicked, as if she thought her friend could march through the wall at any moment.

"She's sitting with her back to the table," Naruto replied slowly. "okay, now she's reading."

"Good, now are you ready?" Ino asked, looking up at him from the book she was attempting to prop against several books in front of them. "The book says it doesn't take long to prepare."

"I still think it's a bad idea," Naruto murmured. "Shouldn't we wait until the original comes back from his academy test?"

"So, I want to give him some enthusiasm in returning," Ino pouted at the clone.

"I'm meant to alert you to Boss's health status." The clone sat back from Ino, his round face twisting up to pout at her. "I'm not meant to do anything very extensive. I'm just a relay clone."

"Yeah and all you've relayed is that he's stuck in the acdemy!" Ino groaned at him.

"Boss has only been gone a few hours," the clone reminded her. "A few more and he'll be able too—huh?" The clone stopped talking, his blue eyes glazing over as fresh memories rolled through his mind. Ino took the chance move forward, carefully situating her legs over his own so she was sitting in his lap, her thighs wrapping around his waist. It wasn't what the book said was the first step to the experiment, but it was the perfect position to push her growing bust against the clone's chest. Whenever she wanted something she just had to draw attention to her assists and Naruto typically agrees, admittedly he agrees with a dazed expression and a bloody nose, but he agrees all the same. When the clone woke up from its transferred memories, Ino had wrapped her arms loosely around his shoulders and was running her fingers through the hair on the back of his neck. She smiled and blinked slowly at him, just like she dose when she wants something from him and felt more then saw his entire body turn to stone.

"Hello," she drew the word out, her voice low and soft. "Pleasant memories?" she rolled her hips against his, her smile widening into a grin as she watched his azure eyes darken to sapphire. Ino barely had the chance to take inhale before his mouth was on hers, his hands moving to remove her simple yukata. She groaned as she leaned back, letting him trail kisses down her throat. He easily adjusted his hold on her so they could roll to the floor, Ino laying on the sprawled-out dress as Naruto carefully untucked her legs from his waist and set them bent to either side on the floor. As Naruto's mouth lowered down her throat to trail down her collar bones, Ino let out a low throating groan, her hands winding their way into his hair.

"Ino-Chan," the clone's thick voice murmured, lazily Ino rolled her eyes open and barely lifted her head to look down at him. He kissed her left breast and grinned at her, something about that grin didn't sit well with her.

"Don't you—" he puffed out of existence, stilling Ino in her breathless order of warning. Sitting up and whipping her head back and forth, Ino snarled as she saw that not only was her clone gone but so was the other one sent to bring them water; also, the protective walls were gone. Sakura looked up from her book curiously, gave Ino a dull look and returned to her book. Turning to look in the other direction, Ino found herself staring at a very angry looking Ami. Ami's hands were clenched into white knuckle fists, wringing her yukata into knots atop her lap, her waist long purple hair was frazzled as if she ran her fingers through it repeatedly. Her tanned cheeks were flushed, her chocolate eyes red and tear stained.

"Ino Yamanaka!" Ami barked shrilly at her, drawing Sakura's attention. "Expl—"

"Shhhh!" Ino hurriedly leaped at Ami, her hands flying to cover the violet's trembling mouth.

"uh-guys?" Sakura's voice called unsurely.

"it's nothing!" Ino called over her shoulder, only to spot a source of wild gold locks sitting atop a stack of books. "Naruto Uzumaki!" Ino screeched, "get over here! Our conversation isn't over mister!" Sakura snickered as the clone groaned loudly before ambling lazily towards a fuming Ami and a disgruntled Ino. As he walked towards the girls he purposefully stepped on one of the lines and re-erected the stone walls.

"tch, brats!" Sakura called out before returning to her book.

"What? The other clone already told you no," the sleepy faced Naruto-clone grouched. "I was napping with Sakura-Chan when you screamed, what is it now?"

"we are going to manipulate the original getting here sooner," Ino growled.

"We can't Ino-chan," the clone yawned sleepily. "the Original is on the run with his teammates because some psycho is chasing them."

"Are you serious right now?" Ami asked, forcing Ino's hands off her mouth. "what did he do?"

"Boss pranked the jonin with a bucket of milk," the clone replied sleepily. "now he's running with his assigned teammates. They can't come here because it could put you three in danger and that's not something he can live with."

"I just how is he planning to return to us by nightfall?" Ami asked, nibbling her lip as wave of fear twisted her belly into uncomfortable knots.

"the Boss isn't able to come here by the promised time," the clone replied. "he'll try to visit it soon but with the Jonin giving chase he may not be able to visit until tomorrow or later." Ino groaned loudly, her hands rising to rub irately at her face. Ami gave Ino a narrowed eye look, her face scrunching up into an expression of irritation.

"just _what_ were you doing to that clone?" Ami questioned, "and why are you so disgruntled now?" Ino slid her eyes at Ami, a thoughtful expression on her face. "What?" Ami asked, her own face morphing into a look of distrust, "What are you thinking?" Ino grinned, her smile wide and predatory. "Ino?"

"you!" Ino snapped around on the ball of her foot and pointed in the clone's face. "Bring me the book! You know which one."

"Fine," the clone agreed with a sleepy shrug. "but you might want to tie that," he pointed lazily at Ino's yukata before walking back to her little section of the seal. Ino yelped in surprise but quickly did as instructed, ignoring Ami's scowl aimed at her.

"Just what kind of book are you making him fetch?" Ami asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"It's just an experimental book," Ino rolled her eyes, "you know a science book, a book about science."

"Uh-huh," Ami sounded unconvinced.

"No seriously," Ino grinned at Ami, a glint of challenge in her sky-blue eyes.

"Got it," the clone called as he walked through the wall, said book in hand as he walked back towards them. "Can I go nap now?"

"No, we might need you." Ino replied as she snatched the book from his hand and flipped it over to shove the cover in Ami's face.

"'The Experiment of love'," Ami read the tittle with a tone of boredom. "written by… Jiraiya… of the Sanin."

"See! I told you it's a real Science book!" Ino gushed cheerfully.

"Ino, I've read dozens of books, all science books, and none of them have ever reverenced this… Jiraiya-guy," Ami huffed at her.

"Uh, Ami, you read books about rocks," Ino smirked and lowered the book to her chest. "This is a science book about the human body!"

"Then shouldn't Sakura be the one reading it?" Ami asked with a brow raised.

"Nope because it's not about healing," Ino answered, looking quite proud of herself. "It's all about the experiment of love! I honestly never new there were so many types of love until after I read this book!" with the dull faces of Naruto and Ami staring back at her, Ino's excitement waned a little. "huh… do you guys even know what 'love' is?"

"Nope, nodda," Ami and Naruto replied together, both in the same tone of utter boredom.

"Ino-chan… do _you_ know what love is?" Naruto asked, making his fellow blonde blush and sputter.

"Of course, I know what love is!" Ino squeaked out at last. "Love is-is-is…ah! Its what our parents have for each other and for us!" her father always told her he loved her and she never once doubted it, especially when the book explained to her the different types of love. The book started off with explaining that there were dozens of different types of love: Parental love, sibling love, friend-love, familiar-love, relative love (also known as affection) and the kind of love that's unique to two people with no blood-relation but enough 'chemistry' to find each other attractive.

"We're orphans, Ino," Ami huffed at her, "We've never met our parents." For a moment Ino's world stopped spinning, she just stared at the two kids she's been with for three years already. She couldn't imagine never knowing her father, granted she could barely remember her mother but not knowing either of her parents? Ino doubted she'd be able to handle that very well. Then again, Ami and Naruto have been living without parents since before they could remember, to them not having parents was normal.

"Ino-chan, you okay?" Ami asked, tilting her head to the side curiously. Suddenly, Ino was holding the book up between the three of them like a shield, her bright blue eyes tearing up.

"Alright then I'll teach you _all_ about love, the book is a great guild." Ino said, bobbing her head in reassurance as she sniffed. "the simplest way to explain 'love' is through the game called 'house'. There's a mother and father, typically there are kids too but we won't worry about that for now. Now, obviously Naruto is gonna be the dad, who's also known as the husband."

"Okay but aren't marriages typically one and one?" Ami asked, one brow raised in challenge. "like one man and one woman?"

"nope," Ino answered with a smirk. "the book says that just a few decades ago one man could marry a multitude of women. Poor men usually only had the one wife but the richer men usually had more than one. There was a daimio from a hundred years ago who had twenty-five wives! That's why this game of house is so perfect for teaching you both about love. We can use the old technicalities from fifty years ago and apply them to our situation. This way you both can learn what love is without ever… uh," Ino blinked, flipped the book over in her arms, scrambled through the pages quickly before settling on a page and read a line quickly. "won't get played by a… a…" Ino's face pinched as her head tilted to the side. "I don't know that word…"

"I doubt I want to know," Ami sighed as she pinched her brow. "Do I want to know what the first step in this little house-game is?"

"huh? Oh yeah," Ino blinked dumbly before flipping through the pages again, stopping on a page closer to the front. "just to make things simpler, I'll be the first wife." She was reading the rules of the game, her eyes flashing back and forth as a slow smile curled along her lips.

"What's the significance of the first wife?" Ami asked with narrowed eyes.

"First wife makes all the rules," Ino's smile split across her face, an evil glint in her eyes.

"No, nope, not gonna happen," Ami replied as she slowly stepped away. "I'm not agreeing to anything until after I read that book."

"Ami, we're going to be reading it as we play the game." Naruto reminded her as he flopped onto the stone floor and rubbed sleepily at his eye. "Can this husband go to sleep now?"

"Not yet," Ino whined. "I told you we might need you!"

"I'm bored already," the clone whined.

"Ami just agree already," Ino huffed, "I wanna exp—I mean teach you something."

"Why do I feel as if I'm about to walk into some kind of life-alternating trap?" Ami asked with a glare at the blonde

"Because you're paranoid," Ino rolled her eyes.

...

* * *

...

 **Thoughts are helpful**

 **Opinions are wonderful**

 **Helpful criticism** **is** **lovely! Just don't cripple me okay?**

 **Please no cursing!**

 **And don't forget to review!**

 **Page 16**


	6. Chapter 6

**Forbidden**

Chapter 6: A Thousand Masks

Koomahana

 **Edited as of May 9, 2018.**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site**

 _Thoughts_

 _ **Demon speak**_ (Kurama talking)

 _Paragraphs are flashbacks_

…

* * *

…

Sasuke awoke with a start, his eyes popping open as he snapped into a sitting position. He was not in his apartment, he wasn't even in a bed, he didn't remember where he was. A whimper from his left had him turning to look at the tiny ball on the single bed in the room, a tangle of copper knots stuck out from a sheet of navy. That's right, now he remembered, they were practicing the transformation of Naruto's fake girls. They were also practicing in said blonde's apartment. Blinking to clear his sight, Sasuke looked around the small messy apartment, there was no blonde inside. In fact, the only people in the apartment were Takara and himself, meaning Naruto was missing.

"Where the h—" just then the apartment door opened and in walked a cheerfully humming Tsubasa, with numerous bags dangling from her arms.

"Hmm-huh? Ah, you're awake, took you long enough bastard." The cheerful girl grinned cheekily at him. Yup, that was Naruto. He was the only one to call Sasuke a 'bastard' to his face and not think twice about it. Tsubasa closed the door with her foot before carefully moving her multitude of bags onto the counter, revealing her new attire. She wore a simple layered kimono of white, pink and crimson; each layer was slightly shorter then next, leaving the final layer of crimson to be the shortest layer and the one without sleeves. Around her waist was a tight obi with purple butterflies floating on silver winds and a golden string decorated with little blue and purple beads.

"…Dube, how'd you pay for that? That looks like its 40 thousand yen easily." Sasuke asked, looking at the expensive outfit with wide eyes.

"huh? I only spent twelve thousand yen today on food," Tsubasa replied in confusion, her head tilted to the side as her round face scrunched in confusion.

"I meant the outfit!" Sasuke barked

"oh! Do you like it?!" she gushed excitedly. "Yuzuki-Baa-chan got it for me! Her daughter works in the dress shop she got it from, so Yuzuki-Baa-chan got a seventy-five percent discount!"

"Quite acting like that Naruto, you're creeping me out." Sasuke growled suddenly. "it's bad enough you look like a girl but can't at least act like a boy?"

"No not at all." Tsubasa replied courtly, all excitement gone as she stared at him with serious violet eyes. Leaning against the counter, Tsubasa crossed her pink sheathed arms and glared at Sasuke pointedly. "Since you clearly didn't notice it yet, I can't go out into the village as myself. If I do I can't afford anything more than a few bowels of Ramen at Ichiraku and that's only because the old man gives me a huge discount. The last time I went shopping as myself I was only able to get one set of clothes that was four times my size and even then, I was only permitted that because the shop keeper said it was either that or nothing."

"Why didn't you go to a different store?" Sasuke asked, as if that option was an obvious choice.

"I went to every clothing shop in the village! All four hundred of them!" Tsubasa snapped at him, her face twisting into a snarl. "The shop keeper who offered me those clothes was going out of business! It's the only reason I was even able to buy those clothes!"

"Tch, aren't you being a little over dramatic? Surly you didn't go to all four hundred stores," Sasuke crouched at him.

"yeah, I did, and I did as my true self. You want to know what happened? A hundred of them said no brats aloud. Two hundred of them were suddenly closed for the day. Fifty-five of them suddenly no longer had discounts and forty-five of them either threw me out of the store or denied me entrance!"

"tch, I don't believe you," Sasuke rumbled lowly. "It sounds an awful lot like you're whining for attention. Oh, look at me, the blonde idiot no one wants around, poor me."

"Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?" Tsubasa asked, her face smoothing out as she stared at her feet. "besides… sounds like you really don't know…"

"Don't know what?" Sasuke asked, growing exasperated with the blonde.

"I'm the 'demon brat'," Tsubasa told him, staring at her feet with a lost expression. "As 'Naruto Uzumaki' I can't even buy fruit or vegetables, not even rotten ones. As 'Tsubasa', I can get fruit, veggies, clothes, weapons, books, paper… I can afford all of my school supplies without having to dig through the trash to get it…"

"…if everything is so unfair for you, why didn't you go to the Hokage about it? Or ask Iruka-sensei or Nao-san to buy the items for you?" Sasuke asked.

"He couldn't," the two teammates jumped at the soft voice. Slowly Takara pushed herself up from the bed, Naruto's navy quilt spilling around her waist in rivets of dark water.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean brat?" Sasuke asked, staring at the wild haired six-year-old.

"Uzumaki-san knew he couldn't ask help from the only adults who look at him." Takara answered, turning to look at Sasuke with somber jade eyes. "Think about it Uchiha-san. The Hokage is a busy man, a whole village follows his lead, hundreds of thousands of lives rest in his hands. Uzumaki-san couldn't go to the Hokage because he's busy keeping the village running, the Hokage just can't walk into a store and order them to let Uzumaki-san shop there. No matter who he is, not even the Hokage can change people's hearts nor can he force business to sell items they don't want to sell."

"Okay so what about Iruka-sensei or Nao-san? They dot on him obsessively." Sasuke countered.

"Iruka-sensei can't show favoritism, he's a teacher. In that aspect he's much the same as our Hokage." Takara replied. "Nao-san oversees hundreds of children, she spends all of her money on the supplies she needs for her office at the academy and on her off days she's at the hospital. Her level of free time is limited to the few hours she spends on sleep."

"I still don't see how neither of them could help out Naruto if they even had one moment to spare on him." Sasuke huffed. "It sounds like you're making excuses for them."

"You're an idiot," Takara sighed. "Uzumaki-san didn't ask them for help because they're precious people to him. He didn't want to become a burden." Sasuke turned away from Takara, he refused to see the fact of the younger girl's words; so, he 'tsk'ed at her and glared out the balcony window.

"Regardless of your opinions, we all have to tell Sato-san 'thank you' for helping me get all the supplies for breakfast." Tsubasa huffed as she lifted off the counter and started to take everything out of the bags.

"um, our sensei said not to eat anything for breakfast," Takara reminded her teammates.

"Uh, in case you forgot Takara-chan, none of us ate last night." Tsubasa reminded her with a tone of disinterest. "I don't know about you guys, but I didn't eat lunch either. So, I'm starving and there's no way I'm doing any kind of test on a day and half empty stomach." Before Takara could reply there was a soft knock on the apartment door.

"Come in!" Tsubasa called without thinking it through.

"Tsubasa-chan, its me," a young woman with light brown hair and soft doe-eyes entered, dressed in a navy yukata and a long white apron. "huh? Your friends are still here?"

"Ah Yuko-chan!" Tsubasa grinned widely at the older woman, she hurriedly put down the sack of carrots and hurried to the woman, reaching out to wrap her arms around the woman. "Long time no see! You're finally back from your mission?"

"Of course," Yuko chuckled. "and I brought you what you asked of me, as well as a few other things."

"Still here?" Takara questioned as she crawled to the edge of the bed and peaked around the wall to look at the woman. "Were you here last night too?"

"yes, I came home to the sound of Tsubasa-chan screaming. I arrived here just as the manager was chuckling and leaving the room." Yuko agreed and quickly explained, a gentle smile on her face. "Ah that reminds Tsubasa-chan, why didn't you tell me you knew Hatake-san?"

"Hatake-san?" the three teammates question dumbly.

"yes, your Jonin instructor, Kakashi Hatake." Yuko smiled. "Did you know he was once an Anbu-captin, the Hokage's personal guard for visits outside the village and the number one batcher of the village?"

"no, nope, not a clue." Tsubasa replied, her face draining of color. "do you know anything else about him?"

"yes, Hatake-san is notoriously late for every meeting he's ever been asked to attend." Yuko chuckled. "he's so bad that he has to be told that a meeting is told two hours before its actual start time. But this way he's actually on time!" Yuko's smile widened, laughter dancing in her bright eyes.

"so, say he starts the meeting and claims its seven in the morning," Takara said slowly, stepping down from the bed and staring at the brunet curiously. "and says not to eat breakfast too…"

"Eat breakfast, show up at nine, practice your academy forms till noon when he arrives to give you his test." Yuko grinned mischievously at Takara. "don't tell him I gave away the secret to his test. I'll end up having move out for my own safety."

"We won't say a word Yuko-chan!" Tsubasa nearly shouted, her eyes bugging out comically. "thank you for the tip!" the woman just laughed, her shoulders shaking with the movement.

"Huh Yuko-chan you're back?" everyone turned to see the manager standing in the doorway, his face contorted in bewilderment and a clipboard in hand.

"ah, Hashimoto-san, you're up early." Yuko smiled at the man.

"it's only five," Hashimoto grunted as he stepped in, his dark eyes swiveling towards Tsubasa questioningly. "You brats still need help with that game you're playing?"

"naw, we got it!" Tsubasa answered quickly, "thanks tho!"

"oh, that's right!" Yuko said suddenly, startling everyone as she clapped her hands together. "Tsubasa-chan!" Yuko smiled at the shorter blonde, "You damn brat!" Tsubasa yelped as Yuko smashed a fist into her platinum blond head, forcing Naruto to release the transformation technique as he crashed face first into the wooden floor.

"Don't you know that constant usage of a henge can get you in serious trouble?! Do you want to be sent to prison?!" Yuko towered over Naruto threateningly, her hands on her hips and her hair raised with her furious temper.

"Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Yuko-ch-chan!" Naruto whimpered, scrambling back from the brunet with tears in his blue eyes as he clutched at his throbbing head. "Y-Y-Y-You k-knew?!"

"Of course, I knew you idiot! I'm a kunoichi!" Yuko barked at him. "Who do you think has been diverting Anbu's attention the past three damn years?! Now that I know who you are exactly," Yuko's shoulder's slumped as she took a steady breath, her face smoothing out into a gentle smile, "promise me that you won't use that henge in the building, okay?"

"bu-but!"

"Everyone already knows sweetheart," everyone turned to look at the entrance again, seeing nothing but two old women and very tiered looking Kunochi dressed in Anbu gear.

"Just who are you saying diverted the Anbu teams again Yuko?" the female Anbu questioned, her amber eyes were rimmed in thick dark lines. "I recall running for _my_ life not you." Yuko just laughed at her, one hand raised to scratch at the back of her head nervously.

"Sweetheart didn't you find it strange that the only other occupants of this apartment are old women and Kunoichi?" one of the old women asked, her dancing black eyes locked on Naruto. "we're the ones who've known it was you from the beginning."

"it also helps that your manager went and sought us out," the other old woman cackled.

"Oi! You promised!" the manager barked at them.

"Now who made a promise about you going to lord Hokage and asking him to search out old maids of the village and friendly Kunoichi to move into his apartment, so he doesn't have to worry about vandalism on his grounds?" the previous old woman asked, not looking remorseful as Hashimoto groaned loudly. "Surly I would not make such a silly promise."

"Nor I," Said the other old woman.

"promises, promises?" Yuko held a finger to her chin and looked towards the roof thoughtfully

"I sure as hell didn't promise jack," the tiered Kunoichi yawned.

"Nope, I don't recall any promises to the manager either!" Yuko grinned. "especially nothing about buying Naruto-kun groceries while he was at school!"

"Ga! Yuko!" Hashimoto shouted, his face tinting pink. The kunoichis and grandmothers just laughed at him.

"Manager," Naruto murmured, staring at Hashimoto with watery eyes. "Thank you old man!" Naruto launched himself at the brunet, who did nothing but snap his arms into the air and then look down on Naruto with an expression of awkward bewilderment.

"So, Naruto was exaggerating," Sasuke murmured. "There were people there to take care of him."

"We weren't allowed to be there as well as we should've been," Yuko said as she looked down on Sasuke. "Not everything is as it first appears Uchiha-san," Yuko silently noted Sasuke's twitch at the formal use of his name. "Just because we were there for him, doing what we could, it doesn't mean that everyone was there for him. There are still people in this village, who wish him harm."

"Yuko!" the other Kunoichi barked, her voice sharp like a blade as it rang in everyone's ears.

"…I know Asuka-chan," Yuko sighed heavily.

"That's enough sad talk children, now let's get your breakfast started!" one of the grandma's grinned, her mouth missing several teeth which only denoted her truly old age.

"Ikeda-baa-chan," Naruto whimpered, staring at the old woman with over flowing eyes.

"Now, now, if we don't hurry it'll be time for you to leave for your final test." The other grandma smiled gently.

"Now hold on a minute, there isn't nearly enough room for all of us in here," Yuko frowned at the single closet-like room. "Why don't we all go down to the foyer? There's the open kitchen and family table, not to mention all the best seasonings that Asuka-chan always brings home from every mission she takes!"

"hey, you promised not to say anything!" Asuka barked at Yuko.

"Oh, that was you Asuka-chan?" Grandma Ikeda questioned

"My that's awfully sweet of you dear heart," the other grinned cheekily at her. "Guess your heart isn't made of ice after all."

"If my heart were made of Ice I'd have burned this place down when I was asked to live in it." Asuka grouched. "Anyways I'm too tired to dine with ya. I'm going to bed. Yuko I'm locking the door, make sure to knock correctly this time."

"eye-eye captain!" Yuko mock-saluted the other Kunoichi, sticking out her tone and closing one eye while she was at it. Asuka glared at Yuko but turned and walked away silently, soon disappearing down the dark hall to the apartment she shared with Yuko.

"Koizumi-chan, won't you help me down the stairs?" grandma Ikeda asked, turning her soft black eyes towards Takara, who jumped back at the address from the older woman. Grandma Ikeda chuckled warmly, her dark eyes lighting up and sparkling. "Don't worry little one, I'm not afraid of you." Sasuke frowned at the words but watched as slowly Takara approached the old woman, staring at her in a mixture of awe and fear, as if she's never had anyone say those words to her. Grandma Ikeda took Takara's small gloved hand and walked together out of the room and down the dim hall. Soon Sasuke found himself being tugged along by the other grandmother, a wrinkly old hag who cheerfully declared her name to be 'Fujita'. She was fat, wrinkly, slow, short and had frizzy thin white hair that stuck up everywhere from her hazardous bun as if she was electrocuted. Like grandmother Ikeda, Grandma Fujita was dressed in an old Kimono of dull brown with bright white feathers curling through streams of gold around the edges. Grandma Ikeda was dressed in a navy Kimono with a white and black speckled fur trimming and edged in beautiful violet butterflies.

"let go of me," Sasuke grouched at Grandma Fujita but the cheerful old woman ignored him as she continued chattering away about what breakfast dishes she could make. Giving up, Sasuke allowed the old woman to tighten her meaty hand on his arm with every stiff step down the staircase. Soon the kitchen was busy with the grandma's and Yuko moving around cheerfully, soon they too were joined by the others of the apartment building. Not having any clue what to do in the kitchen, Hoshimoto and Sasuke were booted to sit and watch at the large table. Even though he was sitting at the table, forbidden entrance to the kitchen by Yuko, Hoshimoto still talked confidently with the residences who slowly trickled into the large room. There was Chihiro, a middle-aged woman who's first reaction to the moving bodies was to hunt down the pot of coffee and start a batch. Kotone and her twin Yuuna immanently went back upstairs to grab more supplies for the 'breakfast feast' that was apparently taking place. Aina came down to tell everyone to shut up before trying to go back to bed, only to be accidentally knocked out when Grandma Fujita smacked her in the head with a wooden spoon. Then Reina slowly retreated up the stairs as if praying that no one saw her come down. Mio came down the stairs, rubbed sleepily at her face then face planted the dining table without an ounce of remorse. Satomi came down with a little one on her hip, looking as exhausted as Asuka did earlier that morning.

"Hoshimoto-san," Sasuke called as he stared at the bustling bodies of the women moving from dining room to adjoined kitchen with practiced ease.

"Hmm? Yes Uchiha-san, what is it?" Hoshimoto asked, turning from his joke with Yuko to look at the young boy at his side.

"just what is this place?" Sasuke asked as he stared at a twig of a woman who stretched her body even further to reach a top shelf to grab a stack of dishes. "I feel like there's more to these women then just kind kunoichi and old women." Hoshimoto's smile stiffened on his face, confirming Sasuke's suspicion that there was more going on in the apartment building then just what his mind was slowly piecing together.

"I honestly don't know what you're talking about Uchiha-san," Hoshimoto tried to lie but it was as badly disguised as one of Naruto's old pranks.

"We're called Amehitoko." Mio suddenly spoke up, lifting her head to glare sleepily at Sasuke. "shut up and move on Mr. pureblood, untainted psychopath, hypocritical piece of—"

"Mio! Watch your mouth!" the woman as thin as broom barked, she walked out of the kitchen and delicately expanded her thin arms to distribute the plates in equal placements around the table. "There are children present!" as if to make a point Takara leaped into the air, grabbed a plate and twirled back down the floor. Sasuke was about to dismiss her actions until he realized that the pair of grandmas were clapping enthusiastically at her, then he realized she didn't just twirl down from her leap, but she had spun when she leaped into the air.

"Ah-ahahhahaha! Uh! Uchiha-san! Why don't we go for a walk outside?!" Hoshimoto's voice cracked as he hurriedly stood on his feet and gestured to the wide door leading outside. "We have a cute little—I mean a nice looking, large, garden to wonder through!"

"I don't like flowers," Sasuke blurted out at the man, making that stiff smile reappear as Hoshimoto's shoulders slumped with the information.

"Hoshimoto-san is the young Uchiha-boy giving you trouble?" grandma Fujita asked as she approached with a platter of cherry tomatoes, Sasuke's eyes locked on the red fruit instantly. He was so focused on his favorite dish that he almost missed what Mio mumbled under breath.

"the pureblood duck-ass has a problem with halflings." Mio grunted as Yuko appeared and smacked Mio's wild locks of auburn. Sasuke glared at Mio before smirking as she stifled several curses by biting onto her arm.

"Huh, funny, I don't think he understands and is just curious." Fujita replied, her smile never falling. "Come Uchiha-san, follow me!" She set the platter of tomatoes down next to Mio before latching onto Sasuke again and dragging him out of the dining room. The glass doors barely closed after Sasuke and his look of pleading before someone else walked into the room. She was thinly built and wore a mask, her long ash-colored hair sat in wild chunks around her shoulders and waist, as if nothing could tame it. She was dressed in a dark kimono edged in emerald green stripes and wore a black long-sleeved turtle neck with an extended piece of cloth reaching from her neck to cover her mouth and nose.

"Hoshimoto-san, I heard much excitement from my room." The young woman said as she rubbed sleepily at her red rimmed eyes.

"yes, Naruto-kun decided to show his face today!" Yuko said cheerfully, silence was her answer. Slowly everyone parted to show Naruto partially hiding behind Grandma Ikeda, holding two large platters of rice and dumplings.

"Uzumaki-san?" the woman questioned, her coal black eyes moving to observe the blonde. "…I was unaware the demon child still remained here."

"Takumi!" Grandma Ikeda barked, her normally gentle voice sharp, loud enough to make Mio leap from the table and stand at attention. "We do not speak such words here! Do not forget that we are—"

"we are all the same in body, mind and soul." Takumi, the white haired masked woman drawled, carelessly interrupting the woman. "Yes, I recall."

"We are all Amehitoko in this place," Mio said softly, suddenly wide awake and staring at grandma Ikeda wirily.

"It doesn't mean we can distribute the pure-kekegenkai's filth." Ikeda snapped, her voice still firm like steal. "I will not repeat myself Takumi Hatake. Watch your words in this house."

"As you wish, dear grandmother." Takumi murmured, tilting her head in acceptance and blinking slowly with the action. She moved silently towards the large table, not making a sound as she sat at the end, opposite of Hoshimoto and plopped her face into one thin clawed hand.

"Hatake," Takara murmured, drawing Takumi's board attention. "As in… Kakashi Hatake?" she looked at Yuko, her face twisting into a look of confusion, "is she related to our teacher Yuko-san?" no one moved, breathed or even had a chance to blink before Takumi snarled like a rapid dog and barreled up the stairs in a flurry of dark sleeves.

"Please forgive her Koizumi-san," Yuko sighed heavily, "I forgot to tell you not to mention him but, in all honesty, I had thought that she was still out of the village and would remain out of the village for another week or so."

"man," Mio grunted as she flopped down into her chair. "I can't wait for that bitch to leave again. Maybe, if we're lucky, her next mission out will have her not returning."

"Mio!" Ikeda snapped again, making the younger woman flinch.

"What? You can't seriously stand there and say that any of us will miss that awful woman!" Mio defended herself. "I mean seriously! She was kicked out of the Hatake clan for crying out loud!"

"I said ENOUGH!" the apartment building shuttered with Ikeda's voice, making everyone cringe with the volume. "This is not breakfast conversation! If none of us can speak pleasantries today then may I suggest that we all eat in silence?" with that dark note, everyone set the table, said their breakfast prayer, and ate silently. When Sasuke and Fujita returned only one of them was confused with the silence of the large table. Sasuke took the open space between his two teammates while Fujita hurried to Ikeda's side and begun a hurried, almost panicked sounding, whispered conversation. Breakfast was quiet, the only sound being that of utensils scraping clay bowls and whispered requests for one thing or another. It was an hour before the tense and unusual silence slipped into an almost comfortable quiet and by then the seemingly last occupant of the apartment building stepped into the large room with an expression of utter confusion.

"Oh, good morning everyone," everyone turned to look at the young woman. "You're all so quiet, did something happen already?"

"Takumi is home," Mio grunted, she was promptly slapped by Yuko. "ow! What?! She is!"

"Oh dear, well I hope none of you take her words to heart." The young woman said with a pitying expression on her face. "You do remember that she's still hurt over what her brother did to her, don't you?" Silence answered her, everyone returning to their meals as they stole discreet glances at the pair of grandmothers at the head of the table. Sighing heavily the young woman shook her head and moved towards the front doors of the apartment.

"I'm off to work! Don't break anything Mio!"

"hey!" Mio barked, the woman laughed as she closed the door behind herself. "don't single me out, geez."

"…whose Takumi's brother and what'd he do to her?" Takara asked softly but no one at the table answered her, even Hoshimoto stuffed his mouth full of rice when she looked at him expectantly.

"…Yuko-chan," Naruto spoke up, looking at his kind faced neighbor curiously. "are Kakashi-sensei and Takumi-san siblings?" Fujita choked on her drink, coughing and hacking into her napkin while Ikeda patted her friend's back and chuckled about being too old to drink tea. Yuko looked around the table with a pleading look in her eyes, but no one helped her, only Yuuna reached forward to scoop more rice into her bowl.

"Eat your breakfast Naruto-kun," Yuko advised as she scooped some cooked vegies onto his plate. "don't forget your rice…"

"…yes Yuko-chan," Naruto bobbed his head and accepted the second helping easily.

…

* * *

…

Before he followed his teammates to the training grounds, Naruto took a large platter of warm food up to the winding staircase. On the roof where laundry was often left to hand-dry, there was a rickety old shack that hardly looked fit for anyone to live in. it was made of plaster, stone and wood, its western corner roof still had a gaping whole from where a branch crashed into it from the winter before. The front window next to the metal door had a small hole in it, no bigger than his palm and with a thousand cracks spreading out like spider webs. Naruto knew from his memories that the room was once a storage room, barely any bigger then his own apartment building. Now though, it was the place where Takumi slept on the rare day's she didn't have to work for Anbu. Gulping slowly, Naruto knelt before the door and gently set the tray of food down before it. Sitting back, Naruto stared at the covered dishes and felt his eyes sting with the need to cry as old memories surfaced in his mind.

"hey Takumi-chan… I know you don't like him but he's my teacher so I have to learn from him." Naruto said softly, his head never rising as he spoke softly to the woman he knew to be standing on the other side of the door. "but… even if he's my teacher, even if I pass or fail his final test…I… I … want to keep taking lessons from you…" he hesitated, unsure if he had the right to continue. "So… Takumi-chan… even though it's your brother who'll be teaching me combat… can you… can you at least… keep teaching me… the way you always have…" he bowed his head, his lips trembling as tears leaded out of his face and splashed against his knees.

"Please Takumi-chan, I want you… I want you to keep teaching me." Naruto pleaded, "I-I don't want to lose my Tsubasa-onee-san!" it was true, he based Tsubasa from Takumi because he knew the kunoichi hiding from his sight wore a thousand masks, as her job indicated. She was Tsubasa, the sweet flirt who couldn't hurt a fly. She was Momoko, the wealthy merchant heiress with a cold heart. She was Kazue-san the mother of six with the patience of a saint. She was Hikaru, the mysterious priestess of fire temple. She was Emi, the shy waitress at a high-class restaurant.

Takumi Hatake was a master infiltrator and master at espionage. She could flip between personality requirements by the flip of switch but no matter how quickly she must change her appearance and demeaner, she never once forgot who she was. No matter the situation, no matter how out of control or bizarre, she didn't break her persona until necessary. She even had the scars to prove her acting skills. For some reason her scars didn't mar her beauty, if anything they emphasized it. The strangest thing about Takumi though was the fact that when she's disguised as someone else, using nothing more then hair dye, contacts and a change of clothes, her skin appears as flawless as the day she was born. It was as if she could hide her scars without even trying or turn them int stretch marks when she needs them.

"Please," Naruto sobbed, "Takumi-san… I don't care about the mask you wear for everyone else but please, _please_ don't take my onee-sama away!" Naruto sobbed, a hick-up bursting forth from his chest like the fountain of tears spilling from his eyes. "Please," he felt a gentle hand touch the top of his head, claws made to harm felt gentle like feathers along his scalp. A wide billowing sleeve of black and emerald stripes filled his vision, long white curls danced on the edge of his vision.

"Rule twenty-five: a shinobi never shows his tears," Takumi whispered. "Dry your eyes Ototo, there'll be no failures on this day." With the breeze she arrived with, so too did she disappear, her warm touch faded like the tears drying on his face. Smiling gently, Naruto rubbed harshly at his face, rose to his feet and dashed down the stairs of his apartment building. Takumi was off on another mission but at least this time, she told him that she'd return to him. But most importantly, she accepted him as him and not as the bubbly Tsubasa he displayed for her countless times before.

Takumi accepted him, _for who he was_.

…

* * *

…

Team seven arrived in training ground Seven at seven-thirty on the dot. Kakashi Hatake was, unfortunately for them, on time. He watched from his place before the memorial stone, as the three children raced towards the three poles; Naruto and Takara laughing loudly in their game. Then they saw him and all three turn into meek kittens and trudging forward like the guilty children they were. He waited until all three of them were standing behind him, heads bowed and toes curling through the dirt. Correction: Sasuke had his hands stuffed in his pockets and glaring off to the forest to his right, his round face distorted in a childish pout.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei, we're sorry for being late." Takara spoke up first her soft voice nearly lost in the gentle breeze. "we were told that you're always two hours late so we thought it was okay to be late a little bit…"

"…you three ate breakfast, didn't you?" Kakashi asked, tilting his head slightly to the side.

"H-h-hai," Takara answered again, looking at her feet in utter shame. "We were so focused on practicing our techniques last night that we forgot to eat so we thought… _I_ encouraged us to eat breakfast." Kakashi noticed how Naruto's back straightened, his eyes widening slightly as he glanced at Takara non-to-discreetly. Sasuke's clue was the fact that his dark eyes snapped from the tree line to Takara, his fists flexing in his short's pockets. So, the little girl was trying to lie to cover for the one who did convince them to eat breakfast, while she appeared to be telling the truth the boys hadn't been prepared for the girl throwing herself under the bus. It was their surprise that gave away her lie. Sighing heavily, Kakashi allowed his disappointment to contort his aura, making the three squirm in their unique ways.

"Since our meeting yesterday was interrupted, let us restart our meeting today." Kakashi gave Naruto a sharp look, to which he ignored by looking at the sky as if he hadn't noticed the glare.

"Introductions?" Takara asked curiously

"That's right," Kakashi nodded. "Today, instead of a test, we're going to have introductions."

"Uh, that's boring," Naruto deadpanned, "we three already know each other."

"Oh really?" Kakashi asked, his visible eyebrow raising. "Alright then, Naruto-kun, tell me Takara's favorite foods and colors. If you get her's right you're to tell me Sasuke-san's favorite colors and foods." Naruto stared at his teacher for a moment, sweat gathering on his neck as he realized his mistake. Kakashi seemed to grin at Naruto, a challenging glint in his somber dark eye.

"Um Kakashi-sensei, I think Uzumaki-san meant that he knew our names and skill sets as well as a little bit of our personality." Takara covered for Naruto quickly, "perhaps if you gave us a demonstration of an introduction, we could fulfill your request better?" She had meant it as a statement but as she rattled on and Kakashi continued to stare her down, the more and more it sounded like a question.

"Alright," Kakashi drawled slowly. "My name is Kakashi Hatake, I'm a Jonin and twenty-six years old. I don't feel like telling my likes or dislikes. I never thought about dreams for the future and I have a lot of hobbies."

"So, your hobbies include annoying the hell out of your students?" Naruto asked bluntly, an irated-twitch danced across his right brow.

"My students? Oh yes I can count the number of teams I've lead on one hand." Kakashi smiled and held up one finger. "My genin team. I've never been a Jonin-instructor because no one has ever passed my test."

"your genin team?" Sasuke repeated slowly. "I thought Chunin lead lots of missions?"

"That's less of a single leader and more like a group lead where everyone communicates and works together to get the job done." Kakashi shrugged. "Technically Chunin count on each other's in sites and experiences in certain situations so the leadership on missions is often shared between the teammates."

"What about being a Jonin?" Takara asked curiously. "Don't you lead missions as a Jonin?"

"I lead one mission as Jonin and that was with my genin team," Kakashi repeated himself, looking as if he was tiered of repeating himself. Takara straightened with the change of voice, her eyes sharpening on the man through her mop of orange painted locks. "Now then, why don't you three continue were we left off huh? Naruto-kun you want to go first?" Naruto blinked at Kakashi, a frown twisting his lips as he glanced at Takara and Sasuke, wondering if they noticed the change as quickly as he did. Takara's frown and Sasuke's slightly narrowed eyes confirmed the blonde's suspicions, he wasn't the only one who noticed the change.

"Alright, I'm Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto scrunched up his face as he turned his eyes towards the sky, wondering what he could say. "I'm twelve but I'll be turning thirteen in October. I like Ichiraku ramen, I dislike uncooked vegetables, my dream for the future is to be the strongest protector in village history and my hobbies?" he paused for a moment, thinking hard on the last requirement of his introduction. "I guess… gardening and pranks…"

"…you do realize that the 'strongest protector in the village' is referred to as the Hokage, right?" Sasuke asked as he stared at Naruto side-ways. "You telling us that your dream is to be the next Hokage?"

Naruto shrugged, his eyes drifting towards the ground. "Maybe, you don't have to be the Hokage to be the strongest in the village. I mean the Youndaime Hokage was the most feared shinobi in the village with a flee on sight order from Iwa for years before he was chosen as the fourth Hokage. I mean he earned the 'flee on sight' order when he was sixteen and just barely made Chunin rank. He was the strongest shinobi in the village for nearly a decade before he was chosen to be Hokage." Naruto snapped his mouth shut, blushing brightly as he rubbed nervously at his neck.

"Uzumaki-san," Takara murmured, a soft smile on her lips. "You admire the Youndaime, don't you?"

"Yeah," Naruto's face reddened further as a shy smile stretched little by little on his lips. "The Youndaime Hokage… is my hero." There was never a time in Kakashi's life where he wanted to spill all the secrets to Naruto more than just then. He wanted to tell Naruto who his parents were, how proud they be of him, how proud his father would be to hear those words… but Kakashi knew better. He understood what it would mean if the embarrassed boy before him suddenly knew everything. If he didn't discover it all on his own, if he didn't conclude everything himself, if he didn't investigate it himself, then he'll think all the wrong things and end up misunderstanding his parent's wishes for him.

 _Sensei, did you hear that?_ Kakashi thought as he closed his eye and took a deep calming breath. _He's proud of you sensei… you're his hero…_ "Alright, Uchiha-brat you're next." Sasuke twitched with the address, his dark eyes sharpening into a glare at Kakashi, who easily shrugged it off.

"my name is Sasuke Uchiha, I'm twelve and will be thirteen in July—"

"In two months? Duly noted!" Takara interrupted in an excited whisper, her hands clenched in front of her as if she was barely able to contain her excitement.

"Don't even brat," Sasuke hissed at her, to which Takara giggled cutely at him. "Tch, I hate a lot of things and don't particularly like anything. What I have isn't a dream because I will make it a reality. I will restore my clan and kill a certain person."

"…that last part would've been cooler if you were sitting and had your hands folded in front of your face so you could glare over them." Naruto smirked at Sasuke, earning him an irated look from the young Uchiha. "What? Your hands are stuffed in your shorts and you have this total 'I don't give a damn' aura surrounding you so it puts the seriousness in your words off. Like seriously bastard, you sound serious but you look like you're making fun of someone else."

"How about I just clean the deck with your face?" Sasuke hissed at him, eyes glinting like daggers. "At least I know what my end goal is and can say it freely without fearing everyone else's opinions."

"I'm not afraid of anyone's opinions," Naruto frowned at him.

"Moving on, it was Koizumi-san, wasn't it?" Kakashi interrupted the beginnings of a fight. The little girl twitched with the declaration of her name and Kakashi noticed with a sick twist in his stomach the fear in the little girl's eyes. It was as if she was afraid he'd treat her differently since he knew her name and yet she showed no sign of fear for her teammates, even though they knew her full name as well. "Well girl, you going to introduce yourself or not?" nervously Takara bit at her lip, her jade eyes dropping to the ground where her right toe was digging little circles in a nervous habit.

"Uh… um… I'm… I'm Takara Koi-Koizumi," Takara gulped, looking up at Kakashi fearfully through her orange hair. "I'm six years old and I'll be seven next March. I like Strawberries but I'm allergic so I can't eat them without suffocating. Um… my dream… my dream is to succeed where my sister failed… so I don't know… I don't know what to do now…" Kakashi let the silence drag on for a moment, slow realization creeping up on him as his eyes narrowed slightly at the young girl.

"Hmmm, and what are your hobbies?" Kakashi asked, interrupting whatever it was that was about to spew out of Naruto's mouth. Takara looked up at him nervously, fear was mixed with memory in her shadowed jade eyes. She gulped nervously, biting her lip again as she glanced once more to the ground.

"uh… its…" Takara's voice drifted softer, too soft to be heard over the gentle rustling of leaves.

"huh? What was that?" Kakashi asked slowly

"its… sai," Takara repeated herself, her brows pinching as her lip stuck out in a childish pout.

"can't hear you," Kakashi said, perhaps a little louder than necessary.

"Its Sakura bonsai," Takara's eyes narrowed at him, her voice a little louder than before.

"now hold on a moment young lady, you see I've lived through a war so soft voices don't get heard by me." Kakashi yawned sleepily at her as if to make a point. "can you say that again?"

"Its Sakura Bonsai." Takara snapped at him, her voice level and with its tone of irritation.

"Sorry Takara-Chan what was that?" Naruto asked, he quickly folded his hands behind his head and turned away from the girl to hide his grin.

"Its Sakura BONSAI!" Takara screamed, her voice echoing in the field.

"Whoa girl calm down, there's no need to scream," Kakashi chuckled. Takara glared at him, her fists clenched at her side as she ground her teeth together. "Okay, good, Bonsai are noted for their calming effects. It also takes great concentration. Its actually a lot healthier habit then what the boys came up with."

"huh?! Don't pick favorites just because she's a girl!" Naruto shouted at him

"hey now, I'm not picking favorites," Kakashi smiled at them from behind his mask. "I'm saying that as a shinobi, something like taking care of another living being, is remarkably healthier then pranking someone or training till you faint."

"Wait, what?" Naruto asked, generally confused.

"Shinobi have long, bloody missions that results in nightmares, bad habits and unhealthily mentalities. Having something soothing such as gardening, art work or caring for another's life are all good examples of healthy habits. These habits will help you in the long run with dealing with the job that we have chosen as Shinobi." Kakashi explained, he fished out his favorite book and held it out for the children to read its title. "Some keep their sanity by getting lost in fictional stories. Other's paint to distract themselves from their previous missions. Other's do poetry, or write music, or garden, or even teach to relax themselves or forget."

"With Iruka-sensei around, I never once thought that teaching was therapeutic," Takara murmured in awe. "Iruka-sensei must go on some very dangerous missions then…" her eyes drifted towards Naruto meaningfully.

"What?" Naruto asked her, squinting his eyes at her.

"Nothing," Takara grinned at him. "Ne~ Kakashi-sensei! What's this great test we're supposed to take part in?" Kakashi perked as the attention was bluntly directly towards him, firmly distracting the boys from Takara's quite mischief.

"The final test? I was gonna hold off another day…" Kakashi said slowly, feeling as if he missed apart in the conversation. The three children gave him various versions of pouts, Sasuke's looking the most childish as he refused to look at Kakashi. Naruto made no hesitation about his disappointment as he was giving Kakashi his best puppy-dog eyes. Takara just looked sad, with her slumped posture and bowed head and her long copper locks dancing about her face it was like he was staring at half-finished painting of a ghost. "uh…right, might as well get on with it." Kakashi shrugged carelessly, Naruto beamed, Takara barely restrained a giggle and Sasuke closed his eyes as he smirked to himself. Kakashi stepped back and unhooked a scroll from his back pouch, laying it out he quickly unsealed a pair of box lunches from inside. Grabbing hold of them, Kakashi set them on the tombstone behind him and unsealed an alarm clock from the seal next to the one containing the food.

"Okay, here's the test." Kakashi started as he lazily rolled up the scroll and returned it to his back pouch. "Without getting caught, you three are to get these bells from me before noon." Kakashi ordered as he pulled two bells strung on a single string of crimson out of his pocket and tied them to the beltloop on his pants. "Use any means you deem fit to retrieve them, even real weapons or elemental ninjutsu if you have any."

"You seriously think that one of us have the ability to use elemental ninjutsu?" Naruto asked with a dull expression on his face. Sasuke hid his smirk by turning his full attention towards the forest. Meanwhile Takara decided that the nearby lake was the most fascinating thing in creation. Kakashi was prepared for Sasuke knowing at least one elemental ninjutsu, Uchiha's were well known pyro-fanatics, but he honestly hadn't expected Takara to know any.

"…careful Naruto-kun," Kakashi felt his lips tug into a smirk. "Your teammates might be more skilled then you give them credit."

"hm?" Naruto blinked and looked at Sasuke before turning to look at Takara. "Hey! That's not fair! I'm the only one who doesn't know any elemental ninjutsu!"

"Quiet Uzumaki-san," Takara shushed as she whipped back around to face him, her face twisted in worry. "what he doesn't know won't kill him!"

 _With you three, it just might_ , Kakashi thought to himself. "Well, shall we get started then?" He pressed the start button and he was pleasantly surprised when all three of them disappeared. "Huh, the obnoxious colors can hide after all." Kakashi murmured as he looked around himself lazily. "hm?"

"I challenge you!" Naruto bellowed out from the edge of the lake, looking irated as he pointed accusingly at Kakashi.

"…compared to your teammates… you're weird." Kakashi drawled, feeling disappointed.

"The only thing that's weird around here is your hair!" Naruto bellowed furiously. "What twenty-something-year-old has white hair?! Did you lie about your age?! Are you secretly pushing a hundred?!"

"I told you I'm twenty-six and this is my real hair color." Kakashi drawled slowly. He's never been so insulted in his life, no one has ever said that he lied about his age or dyed his hair to his face before. Everyone just thought that was his real hair color, especially since he's had silver hair since he was a child.

"I bet you use moose to get it to stand on end like that too!" Naruto continued

"I do not," Kakashi sighed. "I don't do anything to my hair." That was true, he honestly didn't do anything to it, he didn't even brush it. He always let it do its thing, even when he was young. He's never had to worry about knots or tangles because his hair was too fine, just running his hands through it or letting the wind play with it always undid whatever was stuck in his hair. Water always slipped off the strands and never stayed long enough to do anything to it. Not to mention that virtually nothing can damage it because the fineness of his hair always parted with the slightest breeze so getting it singed in the middle of a battle was a rarity. In fact, the only person to do any kind of damage to his hair was Itachi, and that was because Kakashi wasn't expecting the boy to pop up in the middle of a privet spare.

"Lier! Silver hair that stands on end like a fabrication of electricity can't be natural!"

"I'm impressed you know words like 'fabrication' and 'electricity'," Kakashi drawled. "You showed no previous signs of intelligence." Naruto let out a scream and charged, Kakashi took his book out again and began to read. Admittedly Naruto wasn't phased by the appearance of a book, he continued to charge and started the test off with a battle of taijutsu. Kakashi tried hard not to mock the blonde because, honestly, he really wasn't trying and the blonde had failed to get him to move an inch in ten minutes.

"NOW!" Kakashi blinked as Naruto leaped back, a smirk on his face. Kakashi seemingly had little time to react before a dozen clones were surrounding him, thin wires strung between their fingers.

 _Please tell me he's joking,_ Kakashi thought to himself, and then he saw something, from the corner of his eye, one of the clones wasn't moving. Shifting on the ball of his foot, ignoring the rigged kunai whizzing past him to surround him in a maze of lethal wire, Kakashi focused better on the clone furthest from him.

"Katon: Grand Fire Ball!" Kakashi watched as the clone dispersed to reveal Sasuke, a large ball of fire traveling down the length of wires; the same wires that stemmed from Sasuke's hand also connected to the rigged kunai that surrounded Kakashi.

"Yup, not joking," Kakashi mumbled as he watched the fire ball get closer to him. "Right, then," Kakashi slapped his hands together, his fingers blurring together in familiar hand signs.

"Futon: thousand blades!" Kakashi looked up to see Takara falling towards them, how she gained that height Kakashi wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know. But he was sure that the fan she just swiped at him was most certainly a jonin-leveled weapon that she most certainly was not supposed to be in possession of. The bladed wind created from the fan smashed into the giant fire ball and Kakashi watched as the two merged to create blades of fire that glided along the path of the razor-wire; ensuring that attack would not stray from the intended target. If it wasn't for the fact that he was in the line of fire, Kakashi would say that the sight was quite beautiful.

"Ah! oh no! Sensei!" Takara shouted when the bladed-flames crashed into Kakashi, seemingly consuming him.

"Yes?" Takara gasped, barely being able to turn her head in time to see a flash of Kakashi's hair before fire bloomed along her side and her sight darkened as she lost consciousness.

"Takara-chan!" Naruto shouted as he raced towards the free-falling girl. Sasuke cursed as he rid himself of the wires stuck to his fingers and defended himself against the onslaught of several kunai being thrown at him from Kakashi. "damn it!" Naruto cursed, he crossed his fingers and created several dozen clones, each pilling atop each other to cushioned Takara's fall. To his credit, Naruto didn't trip once as the clones dispersed with the force of Takara's small body smashing into their own. Naruto leaped, crashed into Takara, and landed in a large pile of clones that dispersed one at a time to slow their momentum to the ground. Coughing Naruto pressed one green-glowing palm to Takara's back, his memories from the academy surfacing as he remembered Nao's lecture.

"Now that's quite advanced for you," Naruto didn't even hesitate as his clones reacted for him. Several clones attacked Kakashi while a few quickly covered Naruto, creating diversions as they each dispersed again. Kakashi dispelled the clones attacking him quickly, looking around himself he saw that the clones had merely distracted him while the real Naruto and Takara retreated.

"Huh, their impromptu attack almost worked," Kakashi murmured to himself. _Now to see if they planned to work together if the other two were just using Naruto to their advantage._ Kakashi disappeared from the field, following the closest sent of Sasuke as he knew the Naruto clones were dispersing Takara's and Naruto's scents throughout the training field. It didn't take Kakashi long to find the three academy-graduates, they were huddled underneath a weeping willow tree, using its raised roots and half rotten underside to their advantage.

 _Huh, they at least know how to hide in plane sight,_ Kakashi thought, _now what are they planning?_ He carefully traveled into the branches of the weeping willow, using transformation to turn himself into a squirrel, Kakashi ease dropped on their conversation.

"What the hell Dube, what's going on?" Sasuke asked, his voice low and angry as he sat anxiously near the exit.

"Nao-san taught me some basic first aid stuff," Naruto murmured, his frown twisting into a concentrated frown. "I'm using the diagnostic technique on Takara-chan right now so be quiet."

"You've been doing that since we settled here," Sasuke reminded him. "What's wrong with her? Why hasn't she woken up since Kakashi-sensei hit her?" Kakashi felt a nagging feeling in the back of his mind, something that was telling him he messed up big time when he hit Takara in her back.

"Shut up bastard, I'm not understanding what I'm getting, okay?" Naruto hissed at him as he pulled his hands back and pulled off his back pouch. "My reading is saying that Takara's bones are hollow but at the same time its saying that there's huge mark-thing on her back that's eating up most of her chakra."

"p-p-p-p," the soft sputtering of the girl had both boys freezing before scrambling to lean in close to her.

"Koizumi! Wake up brat!" Sasuke hissed at her, his hand clasping on her shoulder. "We don't have time for this, if you're faking it, I'm seriously going to kill you." Kakashi doubted Sasuke would but he could sympathize with the worried feeling of the boy, he wasn't feeling very confident in that last attack he did.

"Pr-price," Takara wheezed, her eyes opening slowly, looking glazed in the dim light that streamed in through the willow brances. "blood… bloodl-line… pr-price." She coughed and wheezed, her body shaking with the wet sounding cough. Kakashi was feeling more and more alarmed, he hadn't hit Takara that hard. He strained from the habit of adding any form of strength and had only used momentum and weight behind the hit. Ordinarily that would've felt like a tap even to a normal genin.

"bloodline?" Sasuke questioned, "you have a bloodline limit?"

"What's a bloodline limit?" Naruto asked as he pulled out a book and began scramble over the pages hurriedly.

"A bloodline limit is a very rare and specially chakra-based power bestowed upon certain clans," Sasuke explained as he sat back and frowned at Takara. "for example, the Uchiha and Hyūga clans have bloodlines. The Uchiha have the Sharingan, the power to see and instantaneously copy and understand anything it sees for the exception of other bloodlines." Sasuke looked up at Naruto to see a blank expression on the blonde's face, forcing him to sigh heavily. "For example, someone with the Sharingan can see through any level of Genjutsu, copy it and use it against the original caster at twice the original's strength. A user of the Sharingan can also copy any Taijutsu form and memorize it down the Mila-seconds or copy an elemental ninjutsu down to the precise measurements of chakra needed to perform the technique. The only problem is that the Sharingan can't copy specific techniques that are also classified as bloodline limits, such as specific elemental ninjutsus."

"Okay, and what about the Hyūga, you mentioned them." Naruto reminded him as he went back to the book in his hand, "what do they have that's so special?"

"the Hyūga clan is well known for their bloodline limit called 'Byakugan'." Sasuke explained, "Do you remember Hinata Hyūga from our class year? The girl with short navy hair and pearl eyes?"

"Hinata-Chan? The girl who defended me at graduation?"

"yeah her," Sasuke rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Hinata-san is a part of the Hyūga clan and has the power to use the Byakugan. Unlike the Sharingan, the Byakugan is inherent, meaning every single member of the Hyūga clan has the Byakugan."

"What do you mean by unlike the Sharingan?" Naruto asked, "What's the difference between the two?"

"The Sharingan is a very rare bloodline in the Uchiha clan, _my_ clan," Sasuke stressed pointedly. "Very few people are capable of awakening the bloodline and even fewer are capable of mastering it. In the entirety of the clan's history the only known individuals who are considered to have mastered, even just by a small fraction, are—" Sasuke stopped himself, biting hard on his lip and turning away from Naruto to glare out the opening, a small trickle of blood began to pool on his lip before spilling down his chin. Breathing heavily, Sasuke bit even harder on his lip, trying to force back the tears threatening his eyes and push back the memories trying to surface in his mind. Breathing heavily and immense pain, Takara slowly pushed her hands towards Sasuke until she was able to gently press her fingers atop his fisted palm. Naruto looked up form his book, staring at Takara worriedly before looking at Sasuke's white-knuckled fist digging into the dirt between him and Takara.

"Where as the Sharingan is known to copy techniques, the Byakugan is known to see through them." Sasuke changed the subject quickly, his voice trembled with his words but his interion clear even to Naruto. "The Byakugan is also known to see through any object, including the human body. The wielders of the Byakugan are said to be so skilled that they can detect poison in someone's tea and even see the chakra path ways of the human body. Although its also said that only the truly skilled Byakugan wielders can close off those chakra pathways. Apparently, it's a skill that's acquired with age. The older the Hyūga is, the more dangerous they are."

"Really?" Naruto asked, squinting at Sasuke's profile as the boy has yet to turn to look back at his teammates. "It sounds to me like old Uchiha's are dangerous too, especially if they have the Sharingan in their list of capabilities." Sasuke sniffed, fighting off the urge to smirk. The sense of pride that he used to feel at just the mention of his clan swelled briefly in his chest before he reminded himself that now was not the time nor the place to get lost in memories.

...

* * *

...

 **Thoughts are helpful**

 **Opinions are wonderful**

 **Helpful criticism** **is** **lovely! Just don't cripple me okay?**

 **Please no cursing!**

 **And don't forget to review!**

 **Page 15**


	7. Chapter 7

**Forbidden**

Chapter 7: The New Team Seven

Koomahana

 **So I updated all chapters from 5-7, I hope these last three are much better than their original versions. I'm sorry for not doing anything about it sooner. I've been focused on my real story (its not a fanfiction it's a story I'm creating all on my own) and work, plus its birthday season for my family so that's a little time consuming too. Either way, I'm trying to get this fixed for you guys, I do apologize for the wait.**

 **I hope you all like the changes. The changes in this chapter extend from beginning to end with minor editing done in the conversation between Kyūbi and Naruto**

 **PS: I couldn't help but make this one longer then the other two**

 **Edit May 9, 2018**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site**

 _Thoughts_

 _ **Demon speak**_ (Kurama talking)

 _Paragraphs are flashbacks_

…

…

"Really?" Naruto asked, squinting at Sasuke's profile as the boy has yet to turn to look back at his teammates. "It sounds to me like old Uchiha's are dangerous too, especially if they have the Sharingan in their list of capabilities." Sasuke sniffed, fighting off the urge to smirk. The sense of pride that he used to feel at just the mention of his clan swelled briefly in his chest before he reminded himself that now was not the time nor the place to get lost in memories.

"prices," Takara whispered. "everything… comes… with… a-a-a p-price." Sasuke frowned to himself, he remembered hearing those words before, somewhere in the very far back of his mind, he recalled someone saying those words. sighing heavily, Sasuke turned to look down on Takara, feeling confusion fill him as he stared into her glazed jade eyes.

"My mom said once that over use of bloodlines, any sort of them, come with devastating consequences." Sasuke said slowly, Takara nodded sleepily.

"U-Uchiha… blind… Aki… Akimichi… ex-ex… boom," giving up on the word she was going to use, Takara settled for a sound effect instead. "Koi…Koizumi… fray… frail… b-bones… weak…" Sasuke frowned at the mention of his bloodline, he wasn't aware of there being such a price for the bloodline in his vanes though, admittedly, he did recall a few blind relatives. He didn't know of any clan named 'Koizumi' but he wasn't a master of bloodlines and the clans who hoard them. He did know that if her bloodline weakened her bone structure then that would explain why Naruto's reading was telling him that her bones were hollow.

"ah, Naruto, that diagnostic-jutsu you were using, use it again." Sasuke ordered quickly before he turned on the ball of his foot and dived out of the hiding place. Blinking dumbly at the now empty place Sasuke once occupied, Naruto formed the proper hand signs and placed his glowing palms over Takara's shuttering ribcage. He could see a strange outline of the little girl's bone structure but he felt like there was something blocking his sight, something that was purposefully blocking him from seeing the problem that Takara was facing.

"Hear, diagnostic-this." Sasuke ordered as he reappeared and shoved a knocked-out bird at Naruto.

"What the—"

"Just tell me what you see," Sasuke ordered, interrupting Naruto's questions. "Hurry up Dube, I think I'm understanding what she's trying to say." Shrugging, Naruto placed both of his glowing palms over the unconscious bird. Sasuke watched as Naruto's hole body jerked, his blue eyes widening in realization as he set one palm over Takara's chest and examined both the bird and Takara at the same time.

"They're the same," Naruto murmured in surprise. "Takara's bone structure is the same as the bird's."

"That's what she meant," Sasuke bobbed his head in understanding. "Her bloodline weakens her body. It properly shortens her life span with every use."

"hay, is that even possible?" Naruto asked. "aren't bloodlines designed to protect the carrier of them?"

"yes and no," Sasuke replied as he set the bird aside. "In the case of the Byakugan and Sharingan, yes. But in cases like the Yamanaka and Nara and even the Akimichi clans, no." Naruto straightened, his eyes locking on Sasuke with a scary level of intensity.

"What about them?" Naruto asked evenly, "What's their bloodlines got to do with this?"

"by all tenacities, the Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi clans aren't considered to be bloodline carriers but clans with very special techniques unique to them." Sasuke explained. "These clan techniques are unique to them because they're the only ones who can pull of these jutsu without actually killing themselves in the process."

"So how are their techniques any different from your bloodline?" Naruto asked

"Because their family techniques can be learned by anyone, bloodlines can't be learned they have to be inherited." Sasuke explained. "For example, if someone were to steal the Byakugan they would be able to use all of its powers but not for long pierids of time like their Hyūga-counter parts. If someone were to steal the Sharingan, it's the same thing, the only difference is were the Byakugan would wear the thief out, the Sharingan would shorten the thief's lifespan with every use."

"okay so what's the price tag of the Yamanaka's, Nara's and Akimichi's family techniques?" Naruto asked

"if I'm correct," Sasuke frowned thoughtfully to himself, his thoughts running in over drive as he tried to remember everything there was to the 'second class clans' as his father liked to call them. "The Yamanaka are well known for reading minds and taking possession of other people. The Nara's are well known for their intelligence and shadow manipulation. The Akimichi's for their expanding body… parts." Sasuke's eyes widened in realization, his face whitening even further then his already ghostly paler. "oh, that's what she meant by 'boom'."

"huh? What is it?" Naruto asked

"I think, Takara was trying to say that Akimichi's sometimes explode," Sasuke murmured. "jutsus that involve affecting the physical mass of an item often come back with such consequences. I wouldn't be surprised if the Akimichi's only send certain people into the shinobi academy because those people are capable of using the expansion jutsu without blowing up a part of their body or killing themselves."

"yes," Takara wheezed, "Same… same here…" Takara twitched her fingers, barely managing to point at herself.

"uh? Ah, what you did earlier!" Sasuke pushed all his weight onto his arms and leaned over Takara. "When you gained that huge height and then used that fan to make those wind arrow-things, was that apart of your bloodline?"

"leap, yes…" Takara wheezed. "Fan… no." Sasuke bobbed his head in understanding.

"let me get this straight. In order for you to leap to certain heights your body had to physically adapt by adding holes in your bones, just like a bird's bones are filled with air pockets." Sasuke explained, Takara breathed heavily for a moment, her eyelids shuttering before she was able to nod weakly. "So then, the price for using your bloodline… it means you're physically weak. A hit from anything, including a tap from someone half your age, could do your body some serious damage, right?" again Takara nodded weakly. "So, you're in this condition because Kakashi-sensei hit you too hard in the back, right? So, did your bones break or anything?"

"Bones… weak bu-but… hole…" Takara wheezed. "Ju-just…just… f-f-fra… fra-a-a…" Takara gave up and settled for breathing heavily

"Fractured?" Naruto asked, his eyes widening in realization as Takara nodded at him. "Alright! That's an easy fix!" Naruto grinned and fist-pumped the air over Takara, making sure she could see the action. "No worries Takara-Chan! I'll heal you up so you can get up and hit Kakashi-sensei yourself!" Takara chuckled, thick dark lines forming beneath her hazy jade eyes.

"Hurry up Dube! She's gonna pass out!" Sasuke ordered with a snarl on his face.

"Don't boss me around!" Naruto barked as he formed several hand signs and pressed emerald glowing palms over Takara's chest. Closing his eyes, Naruto concentrated entirely on the task at hand, not seeing the relieved smile on Takara's lips or the slow clarity growing in her eyes.

"Hey brat, when you're better you gotta promise me something," Sasuke said as he flopped against edge of their small hiding place, his dark eyes moving to observe the outside world. "When you're better… you gotta stop calling me by my last name, okay? If you call me it again, I have full rights to hit you even harder than Sensei did."

"Deal," Takara's whisper soft voice pulled Sasuke's dark eyes away from the forest beyond the willow's droopy branches. "on the condition you stop calling me 'brat'. I'm Takara, not brat, not Koizumi. Just… just Takara."

"…right," Sasuke nodded and smirked in agreement.

"If that's the case then I'm just Naruto," Naruto grinned cheekily at them. "No more last names! First names from now on!"

"how about first names when its just us?" Takara asked, "We could come up with nick-names to use in public or when we're around people we don't like or distrust."

"hey good idea Taka-Chan!" Naruto grinned, making Takara blush brightly at him. "if that's the case you're free to call me Onii-san!"

"Idiot!" Sasuke barked, "there's no way she'd call you that!" Takara chuckled at them, drawing the boy's curious gaze.

"A brother huh?" Takara murmured, her voice slowly gaining strength. "I've never had one… they're… they're so precious…."

"Don't cry Taka-Chan," Naruto murmured, watching the tears pool in her jade eyes. "There's nothing special about boys compared to girls. Daughters are just as precious as sons are." Takara smiled bitterly at him before struggling to get her arms under herself, a sniffle was all that was heard from her as her tears dried.

"Whoa Taka," Sasuke murmured, reaching up to set a hand on her shoulder.

"No, its time to go," Takara interrupted Sasuke. "If we don't hurry the alarm will go off."

"Crud, I don't know what time it is but she's got to be right," Naruto groaned as he sat back, watching Takara breath heavily as she finally sat up, her arms trembling beneath her weight.

"It's eleven-o-five," Takara answered him. "We've got fifty-five minutes to find our sensei, distract him and steal the bells from him." The boys didn't know how Takara knew what time it was but they were willing believe her for the sake of their test.

"Alright, I recall you being fairly good at detecting chakra signatures Taka, can you find him?" Sasuke asked

"I wasn't sensing but yes I can find him." Takara replied as her eyes drifted outside. "I need to be where the birds are…" not understanding her terminology the boys shared confused looks before looking outside. Sasuke's face pinched in a frown but he leaned forward and carefully lifted Takara into his arms, letting her settle her face against his shoulder as he carefully maneuvered the both of them out of the hole at the base of the weeping willow.

"Uzu…uh, N-Naruto…k-k-k-kun," Takara blushed as she stuttered over Naruto's name, who only beamed at her in answer. Anything was better then being called his last name, it was like she wasn't talking to him but a mass of people he didn't know.

"How…how big of a trap can you make?" Takara asked, gulping down whatever hesitance was making her stutter over her words.

"A trap?" Naruto repeated slowly, his face scrunched up in thought. It's been forever since he last did a trap, the last one he did had several dozen Chunin trying to break down the doors of his apartment complex to get him. In the end he shrugged carelessly, he guessed he could make a large one but he doubts it'd be as effect as Takara was hoping for it to be.

"Good, set your clones out to do your thing, don't worry about us." Takara ordered, before turning to Sasuke. "Suke, can you go over there? To that red pine over there?" Sasuke nodded and began hurrying away, Naruto shrugged carelessly before making his hand sign and sending his clones out to do their thing. Naruto already had a plan in mind and had sent several of his clones out hunting for their teacher while others were sent to get everything ready. Sasuke hurried to the tree and looked up, its millions of emerald and jade needles over shadowed them like a giant umbrella, surrounding them in a comforting shadow. Takara looked up at the tall over lapping branches, watching how birds of all kinds slowly filled into the branches, discreetly flitting about before settling.

"That one, can you get me up there?" Takara asked as she pointed at one of the branches near the top.

"Without using my hands? Not likely," Sasuke grunted. "It'd be a struggle for me even with my hands."

"hmm… what about a pully system?" Takara asked, "can you use some of the wires you have left and create a pully system to get me up there?" Sasuke's face scrunched up in thought, his head tilting slightly to the side as he took consideration of her words.

"I can come up with something," Sasuke said slowly, "but I'm gonna have to put you down, okay?"

"Alright," Takara agreed. Sasuke walked forward and gently set her down at the base of the tree before leaping into the tree branches. Using his feet and two sharp kunai, Sasuke climbed the tree quickly, upon reaching the branch he needed he quickly set about slamming two kunai into the trunk and stringing wire through them. A horrible echoing screech sounded high behind him. Sasuke barely had time to connect the free ends of his wires back to the wheel they came from before he pushed off the trunk and sent himself scaling down to the trunk of the tree. Whatever bird was screeching at him smashed into the trunk of the tree, making Sasuke grit his teeth as his wires trembled under the immense weight pushing against them. Reaching the bottom branch, just above Takara, Sasuke looked up to the branch he abended to see the larges hawk he's ever seen glaring down on him. In fact, now that he was able to get a good look at the branches that were higher up, he could see that the branches were filled with large twig nests and each nest was occupied by at least one giant hawk.

"Suke! Hurry up, I have to get up there! We have thirty minutes!" as if to demonstrate Takara's growing panic, an explosion of orange dust took to the air several ackers away.

"new plan Taka, you are not going up there," Sasuke demanded as he leaped down to land beside her. "not in your state—"

"Don't worry about me," Takara ordered. "I'm a Koizumi, Sasuke, Birds can't hurt me just like flames can't hurt you." Sasuke stared at Takara, frowning at the compression and not liking the hint she was giving him. Sighing in acceptance, Sasuke quickly set about taking off his shirt and tying it to the wires. Despite the ever-present heat of Konoha, Sasuke always made it a habit to wear black tank beneath his t-shirt. It was just a convenience to him that his shirt was created to withstand the pressure of wires. Sasuke carefully pulled Takara onto his shirt and let her grip the two ends of the wires closest to herself.

"is this safe?" Takara asked, her voice squeaking as Sasuke picked up his real of wire and began to pull his wires back towards their center.

"Properly not," Sasuke answered, not bothering to sugar-coat anything for her as usual. "if the wires slip off just fall with the shirt, don't cling to the wires." Sasuke instructed as Takara slowly began to through the air. "Damn kid, you're heavier then you look."

"Shut up! You're not supposed to comment on a girl's weight!" Takara barked at him. Another explosion echoed, sending up a cloud of blue smoke, making Takara's face pale and her eyes widen. "Suke hurry up! That was too close for comfort!"

"tch, calm down, I'm going as fast as I can!" Sasuke barked back at her. Suddenly Sasuke was accompanied by a few Naruto clones, without question they leaped onto the wires and started pulling Takara higher and higher into the tree while Sasuke tried to keep spinning the real to take up the slack he was given by the clones. Takara watched as another cloud of green spiraled into the air, quickly followed by a cloud of white and echoing laughter. Takara was torn from feeling curious as to her teammate's amusement and feeling terrified with the number of traps her teacher was activating destroying to get at said blonde teammate. Soon more and more Naruto clones were appearing at the base of the tree, surrounding Sasuke protectively as he twirled the real faster and faster to take up the slack in the wires as several clones actively pulled Takara higher and higher into the air.

Soon enough Kakashi was leaping through the air, at the same height as Takara, his body painted in various splatters of color and his eyes glinting furiously. Takara gulped as Kakashi flung a hand back and launched several shuriken at her, only to sigh in relive as a dozen clones leaped between them and took the hit; sending the five stars spiraling down to the ground.

"Thanks Dube," Sasuke grunted, a smirk on his lips as Kakashi fell down towards them. "Focus on Kakashi-sensei, these wires can't be cut by plane weapons like those."

"Is that so?" Sasuke felt his blood run cold at the voice behind him, the Kakashi in the air disappeared as the Naruto-clone behind Sasuke was enveloped in smoke to reveal the real Kakashi. Naruto shouted in surprise before leaping at Kakashi, Sasuke didn't hesitate to dive forward while the clones covered him. Takara whimpered as the previously tight wire gained slack and she was dropped several feet, regardless of Sasuke's previous warning, her hands reflexively tightened on the wires that were wrapped around the shirt. Sasuke grunted as he adjusted his hold on the wire, making sure to lean over the wire so that most of his weight could keep the real lower while the wires tightened over his shoulder. Breathing heavily, Takara opened her eyes again, staring down at her teammates with teary-eyes before looking up to see the distance between her and the nearest nest. Accept her vision was consumed with the face of a narrow-eyed predator. There was glinting eye the size of Takara's hand, colored in the terrifying scarlet of fresh blood with brilliant flame-orange stripes and a current of gold rimed the very bottom edge of the iris. Surrounding the large—terrifyingly intelligent—eye, were small white feathers coated in even smaller brown dots, like snow flakes and dust were intermixed. The white circle surrounding the eye then blended into the cinnamon-brown of maple-bark and tiger striped feathers of white and black. A beak the size of her forearm opened slightly with chilling ring of funeral bells and unanswered questions. The beak itself was colored in perfect reptilian gold from where it sprouted out of the face of the animal before curving into foreboding black with a dusting of white on the joint of its bone mouth.

"Koizumi-san!" Kakashi's voice bellowed from the ground, the boys subsequently nullified at his feet. "don't move! That's Kōgō! She's the Monarch of the flock! She's extremely territorial!"

 _You don't say,_ Takara thought as she stared into the giant hawk's eye, her heartbeat bounding behind her eyes. She gulped slowly, watching how the narrowed eye of the animal seemed to focus on the movement, making the hair on the back of Takara's neck stand on end.

 _Come on, you can do this._ Takara thought to herself. With trembling lips and quaking fingers, Takara slowly unfolded her fingers from the wire, feeling them creek with the slowness of her movements. Trembling, Takara pointed her fingers towards the hawk, allowing the giant creature to inhale her scent as the wind picked up. Taking in a slow deep breath, Takara parted her lips slightly and allowed a soft chirp, almost purr-like, shake from her voice box and fill the air between her and the giant Avian. She watched as the giant hawk perked, its head pulling back to get a better look at her, its eyes dilating with the familiar sound.

 _That's it, its me, you know me._ Takara thought, hope filling her heart as a smile twitched at the edges of her mouth. _Come on… you know me, remember?_ Kōgō squawked loudly as she leaned back, glowing kunai flying past Takara's face, severing several hairs before they crashed into the kunai another dozen feet above Takara. As the Kunai were released from their embedment, Takara was free for a moment of gravity. Then she was falling and she could only scream in terror as the wires contorted around her and the kunai tumbled after her. Kōgō cawed loudly, flapping her great wings in agitation before diving after Takara, one talon outstretched towards Takara's own clasping palm.

"No!" Kakashi shouted as he dropped to the ground, covering the boys protectively while the hawk latched onto Takara and angled itself back into the sky. Once Kōgō was high enough she rolled through the air, flinging Takara higher and ripping the razor wire off her before rolling again and catching Takara on her back. Clinging for everything she was worth, Takara buried her face into the hawk's auburn neck-feathers as she angled back towards the earth.

"Koizumi-san!" Kakashi shouted as he leaped to his feet and hurried to Kōgō, who screeched and stretched her wings out threatening at his quick approach. Kakashi skidded to a stop, his heart pounding and his eyes wide as he watched a little girl straighten on the back of the giant hawk. Takara's orange locks were windswept, spiraling in all directions like electrical currents, revealing her dazed jade orbs and moon-kissed angle face. On the right side of her forehead, spanning from hairline to the edge of her brow was a long thin scar.

"Whoa," Takara breathed, a smile on her face as Kōgō folded her wings and looked back at Takara curiously. "you're the coolest Kōgō-san, thank you for saving me." The giant hawk seemed to grin at Takara, the monarch of hawks straightened, her chest puffing out in pride as her territorial aura changed to that of a gloating woman; electing enthusiastic giggles from Takara.

"Amazing," Kakashi murmured, staring at Kōgō wirily. "I've never seen her take to a human before and I basically raised her."

"You did?" Takara asked, her eyes widening as she looked up over Kōgō's shoulder.

"Yes, you see Kōgō is a breed of hawk called 'sharp shinned hawk'." Kakashi explained, "Should they survive their first winter and fall they can live up to ten years but its fairly rare to find a sharp-shinned hawk that's so old. most die in their first three years of life. Other predators and enemy shinobi make messenger hawks like Kōgō difficult to breed."

"so what does that have to do with you?" Takara asked curiously

"Chunin are assigned to protect, teach and guild fledgling hawks," Kakashi told her, his body relaxing as Kōgō peered at him closely before settling on the earth like a pampered cat. "Kōgō was small for a hatchling and for five years I had to keep her inside to protect her. Even now, seven years after her training and release date and she can barely stand my presence. She's a notoriously picky bird."

"…So, she hates you?" Takara asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, she tolerates me," Kakashi shrugged. "I'm the only one who can get her to deliver messages between villages because I'm the only one she allows within reach but for the most part this is as close as I can get to her." He gestured to the distance between Kōgō and himself, making the bird tilt its head at him in a curious manner.

"So she hates you," Takara grinned at him, her jade eyes sparkling.

"I said she tolerates me," Kakashi repeated himself. Kōgō perked with his tone of voice, her sharp crimson-orange eyes narrowing at him warningly. "Seriously?" Kakashi asked the bird, "I raised you!" in answer the bird let out an insulted squawk, her wings twittering against her body as if she wanted to expand them just wide enough to hit Kakashi.

"Unbelievable," Kakashi grouched, stuffing his hands into his pockets and glaring at Kōgō. "Less than a minute with her and you're already attached. I spent three years trying to get you to stop popping in my bed." Kōgō looked at him, chirped mockingly at him and then settled again, her talons disappearing beneath the giant fluff of her belly feathers. Takara giggled, sensing her teacher's irritation with the giant bird despite her amusement at his predicament.

"Tch, anyways Koizumi-san, how'd you get her to like you so fast?" Kakashi asked offhandedly. Takara shrugged carelessly in answer, her eyes drifting to the back of Kōgō's neck where her fingers fiddled with the giant birds under plumage. "Does it have anything to do with your bloodline?" Takara froze with the question, her face paling as her terrified orbs slowly moved to look at her teacher. Kakashi looked relaxed from where he stood, his hands hidden in his pockets as he observed her with a cool expression in his lone eye. "I heard what you and the boys talked about earlier, dose your bloodline have anything to do with how Kōgō took to you so quickly?"

Takara's eyes dropped, her teeth nibbling on her lip as she thought about what she could or shouldn't say. As if to reassure Takara and her sudden fear of her teacher, Kōgō chirped cheerfully, summoning all the fledglings from the tree to surround them like a blanket of cheerful banter. Takara watched as the larger then usual hawks floated down to them, settling on the warm grass, some even yawning sleepily before tucking their beaks into their wings and taking a quick nap. Some even settled atop each other, stacking themselves three and four high and looking like sentients as they observed the field around them. Many surrounded Kakashi's feet, stacking atop each other and looking at him expectantly. Out of habit, Kakashi moved his hands about and stroked the heads of the nearest hawks, not paying them any close attention. Kōgō herself shook herself gently, shook her wings a little, then closed her eyes and stuck her beak into her wing; as if the sign of her nap was a clue to Takara's ensured safety. Petting Kōgō's head with a gentle smile, Takara decided that if the giant bird was comfortable enough to fall asleep so close to someone she 'tolerated' then it was okay to diverge a little bit of information.

"You are aware that the Inuzuka clan each have a canine partner," Takara started slowly, her mind racing through information quickly.

"I'm aware," Kakashi drawled. "is the Koizumi clan like the Inuzuka clan?"

"… There are similarities between the clans," Takara agreed slowly. "I'm not saying that we're perfectly similar as there are differences—"

"Such as the partnership to aves instead of canines?" Kakashi asked with a raised eyebrow, going so far as using the technical term for bird race.

"…And the bond between us," Takara added, not agree or disagreeing to his statement. "Inuzuka's are known to take personality traits or physical characteristics of their canine partners… Koizumi's act more like parental figures…"

"You're the parent?" Kakashi asked with a raised eyebrow

"I'm the hatchling," Takara corrected.

"Uh-huh," Kakashi drawled slowly. He watched as Takara didn't make eye contact with him, refusing to look at him as she fiddled with Kōgō's feathers. "What did you mean that boys are precious?" the fiddling stopped, Kōgō woke but did not move, every bird in the field settled their uncanny eyes on Kakashi.

"Our bloodline is… male dominate," Takara answered slowly, looking uncomfortable.

"What happens when a female is born with the bloodline?" Kakashi asked but Takara didn't answer, she bit her lip and turned away, tears pricking the edges of her eyes. The silence stretched, the eerie staring of the hawks continued, Takara tried to blink her eyes dry, Kakashi continued to stare.

"…Onee-sama," Takara murmured, her voice cracked with the word and that was all Kakashi needed to know the answer. Kakashi felt his hands clench into fists in his pockets, his back straightening as he stared at Takara. The little six-year-old didn't move from her placement, her little red qipao hugged her tiny body but it only emphasized the shaking of her shoulders. The long white sleeves of her under shirt remained surrounding her hands in large pools of white, her thick black pants remained unmoving around her tiny legs. She looked so much smaller, weaker, sitting on the back of a giant bird in her too big clothes.

"So you have hollow bones," Kakashi said slowly, turning his eyes towards the summer sky as he thought about the information. "I know a man who's a Taijutsu specialist, he should know some combat styles that would be complementary to your weaker condition." Takara perked with the information, she turned wide eyes towards her teacher, afraid to hope. "Now I'm not promising anything and you might hate me after meeting the man but I honestly don't know how to teach you combat if a tap from me is gonna put your body into shock."

"Y-y-y-yes!" Takara stuttered out, a blush on her cheeks as a smile bloomed on her face. "Yes please! If you can teach me or have someone else teach me how to fight with my weak bones, then I'm willing to do anything!"

"hey, don't make any promise you're gonna regret," Kakashi advised, "you haven't met the man yet." Takara giggled and clapped her hands, startling Kōgō into sitting up and looking about irately before relaxing as Takara squealed loudly and wrapped her tiny arms around the giant bird's neck. Sighing heavily Kakashi rolled his eye, watching as the hundreds of adolescent hawks took the sky and returned to their nests, deeming their presence unneeded.

"Well… guess its time to wake the boys," Kakashi mumbled as he turned on his heal and walked towards the weeping willow. "I should teach them how to recognize Genjutsu, this is ridiculous." Kakashi stopped walking when he saw two hawks standing on either side of the boys, each with a stringed bell dangling from its mouth. Kakashi looked down at his waste and even patted at the beltloop but found his bells missing, each hawk chirped cheerfully before they each dropped the severed bells into the boy's hands and flew back into the tree.

"Koizumi-san," Kakashi hissed, turning to glare over his shoulder. Takara's back straightened, her eyes widened comically as she looked around the field in a 'who, me?' kind of manner. Kakashi turned to approach her but Kōgō opened her wings and took the sky with a shrill cry, electing excited giggles from Takara as they escaped Kakashi's wrath.

"Damn," Kakashi groaned, "I really didn't want to be a teacher this year." _Nothing I can do about it now, team seven passed my test._

…

…

It had been a day and half since he was able to leave the presence of a jonin. Naruto hurried trees, sharp claws digging into tan bark as he flitted hurriedly from tree branch to tree branch. His clones were out, distracting everyone as he hurried to his secret place hidden in the western forest. He leaped off a branch and sailed over the old stone wall surrounding the compound he often escaped too. He landed on the dirt ground, his bushy tail flittering as a breeze pushed an unfamiliar scent into his nose. Squeaking with all the insult a squirrel could muster, Naruto hurried into the broken looking house he's been living in. ducking around the corner of the entrance he released his transformation and peeked around the corner again. There, just at the edge of the entrance in the wall, he could see the protective barrier kick up.

 _Damn,_ Naruto thought, his blue eyes narrowing at the glowing blue sight. _I hadn't lost him yet?_ The person setting off the protective burrier moved to the right where he could see them better, Naruto felt his brow twitch as he stared at the small dog with thick tan fur and white highlights.

"I should be more careful with dogs," Naruto mumbled as he turned away from the entrance and hurried to the hidden staircase in the house. He kicked off his shoes at the mudroom's entrance and hurried to the right where the broken staircase leading up was sitting innocently next to the pantry cupboard. Taking in a deep breath, Naruto opened the door and skimmed a chakra coated finger along the frame gently. The large floor to ceiling shelf bent back to reveal a gentle slope down to the basement, where a stone hall was accompanied by a single door on either side of the hall. Sliding down to the bottom with a smirk, Naruto easily rolled onto his feet and took the dozen necessary steps he needed to reach the door on his left. he opened the door to reveal a red painted room that was cluttered with dusty objects and a large four-poster bed sitting on the right-side wall. He walked past the large bed, ignoring the dusty objects, and pulled a small book out on the shelf beside the bed. The shelf moved aside noisily, revealing the entrance to the girls he's been trying to protect for three years.

"I'm home," Naruto called out, as he walked into the cold abys decorated with a single violet seal. The three girls were sitting at the table like usual, reading over their given special jutsu from the forbidden scroll. "You'll never believe what happened after I left!" It was only Sakura who looked up from her scroll, her eyes smudged from lack of sleep and filled with irritation.

"Before you tell us about you adventure," Sakura interrupted him quickly as she shakily rose to her feet, "can you please explain to us what thing is?" Naruto looked in the direction the Pinkett was pointing and found himself starring at a distant glow further away in the dark cave, a small shadowed figure sat in the middle, obstructing his view of the glowing object. "It showed up a few hours ago," Sakura continued, "we still can't leave the seal without feeling sick, so you're the only one who can check it out."

"Yeah, sure, but can I tell you about my day first?" Naruto asked hopefully, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"no," Sakura answered bluntly, "look at Ino, Naruto, she's seriously sick! Whatever it is, it's hurting her!" Naruto looked over at the other blonde, true to Sakura's words, the other blonde did look sickly. Her skin was clammy, her eyes had dark lines under them, her lips were dented from excessive biting and the corner of her bottom lip was bleeding. Normally it was Ino who jumped up from the table and greeted him, asking him about his day and what he did or learned at school, occasionally asking questions about their classmates. Even her questions about Sasuke had dwindled down to more questions about Shikamaru and Chōji then about her once-crush. He never did figure out if she stopped asking about Sasuke because she wasn't madly in love with him anymore or if because she realized that questions pertaining to the last Uchiha started to hurt him.

"alright," Naruto glanced at Ami seeing glazed eyes and a worried expression, as if her mind was someplace far away. "I'll go check it out…"

"thank you," Sakura sighed, flopping down in her seat as Naruto walked around the girls to approach the glowing thing. "Thank you…" Sakura curled up on the table, her body shaking as the horrible realization that she was perfectly useless settled in around her. In fact, she felt like she did the first time they arrived in the underground bunker: weak, helpless and completely dependent on the class fool. She had no way of knowing what would happen next, what if Naruto didn't come back? What if Ino and Ami got worse? What if the seal stopped working because Naruto _died_?! Would her wounds resurface? Would she be facing death again?

What would happen if Naruto didn't come back?

 _I wonder what it is,_ Naruto thought as he walked further and further into the darkness of the cave, eyes locked on to the bright red light far ahead. He thought it was strange, earlier that morning, when he realized that the demon's chakra was separating itself from him, he knew it had a mind of its own, he just couldn't figure out what the demon's profit was in healing Nao or protecting him. Besides that, what was the point of having subconsciously preform the demon's signature jutsu? What gain was the demon aiming for? What was his goal?

"You're late," Naruto stopped walking at the sound of the voice, his eyes widening as he realized that he was only steps away from the person sitting before the red light. "what took you so long? I got tired of waiting for you." Naruto frowned at the person, they were thin and gangly but under that thick red yukata edged in black fur, he could see thick well-honed muscles, like that of his new teacher. The person sitting before Naruto had shoulder long bright blood red hair and sun-kissed brown skin, laying out in front of the stranger was an integrate knot-work of lines and circles, interspaced with rotating circles of moving pictures.

"What are you staring at?" Naruto asked as he stepped a little closer to the stranger but remained out of reach.

"Dimensions," the stranger answered simply, "I'm looking at the other alternate worlds to find what's wrong with this one."

"What's wrong with this world?" Naruto asked, his face twisting in annoyance, "why do you think this world is wrong?"

"because brat you hate me," the stranger turned to look up at Naruto, revealing bright blood red cat-eyes, "you're supposed to be the only one who accepts me." Naruto stood frozen in his place, staring at the other boy, his eyes widening as he stared at the familiar whisker marks on his round cheeks and the crooked nose, the round jaw and lightly pointed chin…

"Who are you?" Naruto asked, his voice whisper soft as he stared at the stranger in disbelief, "why do you have my face?"

"Tch, you're as dumb as ever," the stranger scoffed at him, "I'm the demon in your belly, the great Kyūbi."

"W-why are you here? How'd you get out? If you're out how am I still alive?!" Naruto's voice steadily grew louder and louder as his voice cracked with panic and fear.

"calm down brat," the demon ordered, "I'm here because you relied on my power to defeat Mizuki. When the others interfered and my power was no longer needed for battle, it sought out a secondary usage. In other words, I tried to figure out if I could heal others like that woman was teaching you too."

"how'd you know about that?" Naruto blinked, then his eyes winded comically as a thought flashed in his mind. "Wait, are you saying that you used Nao-sensei as an experiment?!"

"I can see your memories and determine whether or not I can adjust or use them to my own gain." the demon rolled his eyes at his blonde host, "and yes, she was an experiment. Call it morbid curiosity."

"So… you only healed Nao-sensei to see if you could?" Naruto asked, staring at the demon in human form like he was insane.

"keep up the smart answers and I might rethink your level of stupidity." Kyūbi drawled at him, he shook his head and sighed as he turned his attention back to the glowing seal. "Back to what I was saying before, there's something wrong with this world—"

"There's nothing wrong with this world!" Naruto barked, "Just because you want to be free doesn't mean that there's—"

"This has nothing to do with my desire for freedom!" the demon snapped, startling Naruto as the demon's tails flashed out at him threateningly. "It has everything to do with the fact that at this point in time, you're supposed to be in your apartment and they," the demon turned to point at the three girls at the entrance of the cavern, "are supposed to be with their families! But they're not! They're here, with you and they're not supposed to be! Sakura Haruno is supposed to be an only child of Mebuki and Kizashi Haruno but she's the eldest daughter of a Merchant family Atsuki and Tsubaki Haruno! And your blonde friend there? Ino Yamanaka? She's supposed to be the clan heiress of the Yamanaka clan, that has not changed, but her mother is supposed to be a civilian born, first generation kunoichi. In this world Ino's mother is of the Nara clan, she was jonin and died in child-birth, leaving Inoichi with their only offspring. Do you want another big kicker? Let's try and figure out about the purple haired mystery!" the demon gestured at the large seal, watching with a furious face as the rotating circles of moving pictures suddenly fell blank, filling with darkness.

"What happened?" Naruto asked as he looked at the pictures curiously, not quite understanding what the significance was but knowing that it wasn't good.

"That's a good question," Kyūbi snarled in disdain. "As far as I can tell, Ami isn't supposed to exist."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Naruto bellowed out, his voice resonating around them like an angry echo of a thousand voices.

"It means that she was supposed to exist at one point in time," here a circle moved in front of them, lighting up to a scene depicting Ino and Sakura in a flower field, soon joined by Ami and two of her close friends. "but then she just disappears." Ino threw some flowers into Ami's mouth, prompting the girl to run away in search of some medicine because of the 'poison' the blonde just threw in her face. After that, the image just blead black, like the end of a memory; except Naruto had no memory of that ever happening. "I don't know what happens to Ami after that, it's like she existed to serve that one purpose and then disappear. Worst off, half the world's I look through don't even have Ami in them, like she was never born in them."

"…How is that possible?" Naruto asked as he stared at the crimson seal, "how can she exist in one world but not another? That… that doesn't make sense…"

"It makes perfect sense," the Kyūbi shrugged a shoulder, as if loosening a muscle. "The choice to turn right instead of left can prevent two people from meeting. The choice to leave early or late—even by a few seconds—can decide if someone lives or dies. The world, all of them, are built and maintained by choices; even subconscious ones." The Kyūbi waved a hand at the seal, pulling three circles towards them to give Naruto a demonstration. "The world on the left is the world where the girl's chose to never start 'practicing' for their crush." the Kyūbi snorted in amusement, his eyes rolling as Naruto blushed brightly, "the middle one is this world, the one you know."

"and the one on the right?" Naruto questioned, "what about that world closest to you?"

"That's a mirror world of this one," the Kyūbi answered, frowning at the dimmer world. "You made a choice at some point in the past year or so that influenced the current world and made a split. A second world was born from that one choice."

"So… if it's a mirror world, then isn't it just like this one?" Naruto questioned

"And there you go, making my opinion of your intelligence drop again." the Kyūbi drawled, looking at Naruto in mild-annoyance. "Mirrors depict the opposite of what is in front of them, if you stand in one and raise your right hand, your reflections left hand is what moves right?" Naruto glared at the demon and nodded, "then wouldn't the term 'mirror-world' imply that although for appearance's sake its similar but is fundamentally different?"

"Ah just shut it!" Naruto hissed at the Kyūbi, "What's so different about this other world?! Why is it so dark as compared to the other two?!"

"You made a choice." The demon turned his attention back to the circles, "one that changed the fate of this world. In that world, you made the subconscious thought to act physically, to prove your dominance over the girls, to prove that they relied on you. They were completely and unfailing _dependent on you._ In this world, you chose to shout about what brought them here. To remind them of what happened and then, like the cowered you secretly are, you ran away."

"Tch, just why would I get violent with them?!" Naruto snarled at the demon, "How do I know that you're not lying to me?!" the demon stared blankly at Naruto and, before the blonde could react, the demon wrapped a tail around him and promptly dropped him in the dark circle of the mirror-world. The demon leaned forward, propping his face up with his clawed hand as he stared into the dark world, watching it brighten as Naruto's presence changed something in it. Once he could make out his blonde host again, he dropped a tail into the circle and yanked the blonde out of the mirror-world, keeping the held up in the air even after bringing him back to the one he was born in.

"Believe me now?" the demon questioned dully, Naruto remained wrapped in the demon's orange tail, shaking uncontrollably and pale like snow, his eyes wide in horror at what he saw. "Now you know what I mean by a single choice changes worlds, your choice to shout prevented that world from becoming this one. It changed the unwritten course it was on and gave it a steady, shaky line to travel on. Though this world is not quite like the others, it'll follow the brighter line that was drawn in that moment you made a choice." The demon pulled Naruto back to the dark ground and dropped him on the cold stone beside him. "That world is darker in the sense that those girls have no voice or chance at a normal life. Technically the girls in this life don't a have a chance at a normal life either, but those ones are worst off. They're worst off because they hold an extremely subservient-Stockholm syndrome. In _that_ world they serve as nothing more than your sex-toys and they're perfectly fine with that because it's either that or death."

"I… I would n-never," Naruto stuttered over his words, his voice shaking as bad as his body was.

"no, _you_ wouldn't," the Kyūbi nodded in agreement. "because you made the choice not to hurt them. that is what made the difference between the two worlds, these two worlds are the only ones out the thousands that exist. They are the only ones that depict the girl's choice to practice kissing on you, to confront Kado, to get wounded and be brought here to survive… there is no written course for this world." The Kyūbi made eye contact with his host, staring pointedly into his bright blue eyes, trying to drive home the meaning of the situation and the importance that laid on the boy's shoulders.

"It's up to you to decide where this world goes, _either into darkness or into the light,_ _ **the choice is yours and yours alone**_ " With that the seal disappeared into a burst of bright glowing dust and the demon turned into an orange mass, surrounding Naruto in a protective cloak before slipping beneath his skin and returning to the seal inscribed on the boy's stomach.

…

…

"NE~eji~i!" he cringed at the ear-shattering whine of his cousin. Hanabi was left in his care because her sister was with her new team and her father was in a meeting. "Train with me~e!" the six-year-old draped herself over his legs, purposefully getting in the way of sharpening his weapons and threatening to spill his tea with her flailing about limbs. "Pule~ease! NE~eji~i!"

"If you don't get off me, I'll stab you," Neji threatened as he quickly removed his newly sharpened weapons away from her, at least he had the foresight to keep the dull ones separated from his newly sharpened ones. The heiress gave him unimpressed look, mostly because she remembered that the last time he attempted to go through with his threat he ended up knocked out for three days and waking up with the devil for a migraine. She had quickly been informed that the use of their curse seal made the recipient feel as if they've been drinking 120-proff alcohol non-stop for a week and then forcefully restrained from the liquid; which produced the nausea, headache, and general foul mood of those who survived the disgusting experience.

"I will stab you if you don't get off me," Neji repeated himself, glaring into her pristine white eyes pointedly. Hanabi only drifted her eyes up to his headband, knowing that it covered his curse mark. Feeling his brow twitch a few times, Neji slammed two palms into her side and forcefully ejected her from his lap; which only landed her into the dirt before him. Hanabi whined and whined, her voice carrying over the wide-open space of their main-house-entrance; bringing out the curious faces of their relatives. Neji easily ignored the thrashing, whining mess of an heiress. Who only ever through tantrums when Neji ignored her repeatedly; like he was doing currently. He easily gathered up his weapons and put them away and cleaned up his mess, all while ignoring the near screaming of his cousin. A glance up showed him a very displeased relative glaring at him from the corner of the house.

"Quite screaming," Neji ordered as he tucked his tools under his arm and turned to glare down at Hanabi, noting her filthy appearance and the strange divots in the earth from where her thrashing dented the dirt. "Or I'll tell Hinata-sama that you're misbehaving," the devastated, horrified look on Hanabi's face was priceless to Neji. Hanabi went to Neji for training but she ran to Hinata for nearly everything else.

"I have training to do, bug your sister." Neji turned to leave, ignoring Hanabi's disgruntled shout as she pushed herself up; just as he predicted Hinata was entering the gates just in time to distract Hanabi. What he didn't predict was the sight of a tiny orange haired girl clinging to Hinata's side.

"TENSHI!" Hanabi screamed, startling her relatives as she leaped to her feet and raced to her sister and the stranger. The two little six-year old's laughed as they collided, Hinata chuckling warmly as they nearly toppled over onto the ground.

"I haven't seen you in forever!" Hanabi gushed as she pulled away, her hands still stationed on the girl's shoulders. "Well?! Did you make it?! Did you?!"

"H-h-hai," the little girl blushed beneath her mop of copper orange. "Kakashi Hatake has accepted the three of us as his genin cell. I was off to tell grandfather but I ran into Hinata-san and I thought she could show me were the compound was so I could tell you." Hanabi gasped loudly, her pearl-white eyes widening comically as a grin stretched across her cheeks.

"You chose to tell me first?!" Hanabi shouted, her hands dropping to wrap around the girl's as she jumped up and down in excitement. "You chose to tell me before telling lord Hokage?! You're the coolest friend ever!"

"She's not cool for telling you before she told the Hokage," Neji drawled, purposefully making his voice sound annoyed. "Besides her Jonin instructor has to report back to the Hokage anyways. She would be reporting something the Hokage would already be aware of."

"There's no need to be stingy Neji-nii-san!" Hanabi jabbed at him, earning a glare before her cousin tromped off to a different location, all of his belongs tucked under his arm. Rolling her eyes Hanabi turned her attention back to the girl, a mischievous grin on her face. "Tenshi, do you wanna go train with me? My lazy big brother won't do it."

"I'm not lazy!" Neji's voice shouted from beyond the doorway, drawing Hinata's raised eyebrow and Hanabi's amused snickering.

"Ano, Imoto, may I ask why you call Koizumi-san 'Tenshi'?" Hinata asked softly, stooping slightly to look down on the two little girls curiously. "I thought her first name was 'Takara'."

"It is," Hanabi laughed as she pulled Takara's arms aside to force the girl in taking a startled step forward before wrapping her arms around Takara's neck. "But she's more preciously then treasure so I call her 'Tenshi'!" Hinata chuckled at her baby sister, the girl's unusual level of cheer and excitement never ceased to amuse her. However, even Hinata could not disagree that Hanabi was a good influence on her younger classmate. Takara's face was five shades of red and revealed for the world to see as Hanabi's enthusiasm has long since flung the girl's copper bangs back from her face.

"Come on Tenshi! I wanna show you our training grounds!" Hanabi shouted enthusiastically, practically dragging Takara after and further into the Hyūga compound.

"Ah, Imoto, hold on!" Hinata called as she hurried after her baby sister, who was now running through the courtyard laughing loudly. "Imoto!" Hinata shouted as she gave chase to the two six-year old's, who only laughed as they picked up speed in their apparent game of chase.

…

…

In a cold and lonely mountain range, mysterious silver fog rolled ankle high on several tamping feet striding past dark corridors of cold gray stone. Soon enough the several thin bodies dressed in warm yukatas of marron and navy, all stopped at the edge of a cliff, creating a crescent shape around a single man dressed in a cloak of silver feathers. The several thinly built males dropped to their knees, their heads bowed submissively as the man before them breathed in the cool mountain hair.

"What have you learned?" the man's voice was low, filled with the sound of boredom.

"Five months from now there will be a Chunin exam," one of the men answered curtly. "All hidden villages will send their promising genin to a single village to take part in the exam."

"How long will this exam last?" the man asked as the wind picked up and pushed his thick hood down to release his long sunburst pink locks.

"Approximately one month." The young man answered, stifling the urge to shiver in the cold mist of the mountain edge.

"…It is unlikely that the girl will take part in the exams," the man murmured.

"Her teacher is Kakashi Hatake," another kneeling man murmured. "He is not as relaxed as others believe him to be. He is aware of our presence."

"…he's stalking the girl already?"

"He has not made himself known to her but he has demonstrated that he knows of our movements." The third man answered, his voice thick and strained. None of the kneeling men could blink before the man in the white cloak was before their youngest and was ripping of the young man's cloak. The young man flinched as the cold air bit into his skin, his bandaged and casted arm held close to his chest as if to protect if from the rolling mists of the mountain.

"He dares to harm one of our own?" the man's voice was a low angry hiss of disapproval, making the five men kneeling before flinch in fear.

"It was a warning hit, master," the young man whimpered, his body trembling atop the cold mountain edge.

"he will not allow us near the girl," the firs man murmured, trying to draw attention away from their wounded comrade. "he will focus on d-class missions. It is likely that we will not get a chance at the girl until the Chunin exams." The pink haired man dropped the thick cloak over the wounded boy and turned his eyes towards the speaking man at the edge of the crescent.

"What is so special about these exams?"

"Death is permitted in the second and third rounds," the man answered, lifting his face to smirk at his master. "We need only to push forward a team of our own, comprised entirely of our clansmen, to infiltrate the exams and exterminate the girl." The man with pink hair smirked in approval, a low chuckle of amusement filled the cold mountain air.

"Well done, I am proud of you."

…

…

Hanabi waved excitedly as Hinata and Takara walked away, Hiashi remained standing at the gates with a frown on his face and crossed arms. They agreed that since the sun had set while Hanabi and Takara were training (it was more like playing to Hiashi), it was up to Hinata to then walk Takara home; especially since it was Hinata who brought the girl to the compound. As they walked the dark streets, Hinata listened patiently while Takara jabbered on and on about the games she and Hanabi usually play, how much _fun_ she always had when Hanabi was around. It wasn't until they reached village center, a five-way intersection four blocks away from the Hokage tower, that Takara stopped and smiled at Hinata.

"na~ Hyūga-san, how long are you gonna follow me?" Takara asked politely

"I wasn't following you," Hinata chuckled. "I'm taking you home, that was the agreement."

"Oh! That's what you guys meant!" Takara grinned widely, her hand rubbing at the back of her head nervously. "A~ah, I don't think you can follow me any further," Takara said slowly, an expression of regret on her face. "I'm sorry Hyūga-san, but we part ways here."

"my apologies Koizumi-san," Hinata said kindly, her smile unphased by the sentence. "I said I was going to take you home, there for, I will take you home."

"Oh, really?" Takara asked, her smile stiff and awkward.

"Yes," Hinata bobbed her head slightly. "Besides, its unsafe for little girls to walk around at night. Regardless of their rank, skill, or" here Hinata paused and her Byakugan flared to life, revealing all to her sight, "the _lack_ of threat in their vacancy." Takara chuckled awkwardly, not sure how to respond to that. Thankfully, she didn't have too.

"There's no need for you to take her home, I am here Hyūga-san," Takara sighed in relief at the familiar voice of her sensei. Turning she smiled at Kakashi, cheering loudly, Takara raced towards him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"You're late sensei!" Takara whined loudly, her face twisting into a childish pout. "You were supposed to get me for dinner _hours_ ago!"

"Hahaha, was I? sorry I forgot while on the road of life!"

"But you skipped out on paying for lunch!" Takara whined. "old man Ichiraku is strict with his payments! Do you know how many dishes we had to clean?!"

"ahahhahaha, I'm sorry Koizumi-san," Kakashi laughed, his hand settling on her head and ruffling the wild orange locks playfully. "I promise to buy you lunch next time, okay?"

"Excuse me sir but I have already promised to take Takara-san home," Hinata interrupted with a stiff smile. "I will not excuse myself for your presence." The girl perked with the new address, not used to someone calling her by her first name. Kakashi turned towards Hinata as if he had forgotten she was standing in the street with them.

"oh? Well then why don't you prove to me that you can take her home?" Kakashi suggested without missing a beat.

"uh? How so?" Hinata asked, Kakashi's eye crinkled as he pointed towards the night sky.

"Take out the watchers and I'll let you take her home." Takara's face paled drastically, Hinata's bloodline flared once more before the young heiress disappeared from sight. Curses filled the air, Kakashi deflected several weapons while a shadow appeared, lifted Takara and disappeared into the night.

"Chikako!" Takara cried, her hands fisting into the woman's shoulders. "You left them!"

"yes," Chikako agreed, her masked face belied nothing of her opinions on her actions.

"They'll be killed!" Takara shrieked, tears filled her eyes, still that emerald painted mask pointed forward, never turning back.

"No," Chikako replied after several leaps. "She's clan heir. He, former Anbu Captain. They will survive."

...

...

 **Thoughts are helpful**

 **Opinions are wonderful**

 **Helpful criticism** **is** **lovely! Just don't cripple me okay?**

 **Please no cursing!**

 **And don't forget to review!**

 **Page** **16**


	8. Chapter 8

**Fate, Existence and Destiny**

Chapter 8: Team 7—insanity in a bag

Koomahana

 **So I rewrote the last three chapters, here is the newest chapter, sorry for the wait**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine; you want the real stuff get off this site**

 _Thoughts_

 _ **Demon speak**_ (Kurama talking)

 _Paragraphs are flashbacks_

…

* * *

…

"No," Chikako replied after several leaps. "She's clan heir. He, former Anbu Captain. They will survive." As if to make a point, Chikako landed atop a roof filled with two teams of Anbu. Takara barely had the time to take in their bird-shaped masks before the woman was racing again, one hand sign given to the agents before they were aiding Kakashi and Hinata. Takara couldn't help but feel terrified for Hinata, she knew the older girl was a genin, one of their top students specializing in water manipulation; but the men attacking Hinata were of Takara's clan, so she knew they would hold nothing back even if she was clan heir. There was little Takara knew of her jonin instructor but she with Chikako's lack of empathy for the man, she figured that Kakashi was at least strong enough to handle himself.

"Now then," Chikako murmured as she touched down on the edge of the forest line, readjusting her hold on Takara the woman turned slightly to look back at the village. Takara curled closer to Chikako, watching a dozen birds take to the air, all squawking furiously as someone sent a fire ball chasing after them. "To your mother," Chikako murmured, bobbing her head in acceptance. Takara nodded, clinging to the Anbu woman less in fear and more for the blinding speeds they were traveling at. Soon enough they were buried into the darkest pit of the forest, sliding across the earth to a finalized stop before a great maple tree that appeared to have half eaten an ancient house. The light inside the house looked like candle light as it flickered in the window beside the door, Chikako leaped and they were standing on the porch. Takara sniffed as she set down on her feet, the Anbu woman disappeared just as the door opened to reveal a figure dressed in a thick black cloak and drooping hood that obscured everything but the fine platinum waves that tumbled down the figure's chest.

"Mama," Takara greeted, looking meekly up at the hidden woman. The cloaked woman crouched, gloved hands curled out from the long sleeves of the cloak and wrapped around Takara's face, gently brushing back her windswept orange hair. "I'm safe mama, Chikako protected me so no one knows where we're at." The woman tugged Takara to her chest, bowing her head to rest against Takara's as she breathed in the air and sighed in relief.

"I'm home," Takara murmured, her arms rising to wrap around her mother's neck, tightening as the hug between them lengthened until there was a strange sound from inside the small house. Takara and her mother separated, the later turned to reveal the guest waiting inside.

"Good evening Takara-Chan," Hiruzen greeted as he stepped towards the entrance and peered out into the darkness. "Kakashi-kun, I do recall telling you not tonight." Takara gasped and turned, her wide eyes staring in terror down on the Jonin standing calmly on the ground before her home.

"Yo," Kakashi greeted with a lazy wave. "Hokage-sama, can you call off Chikako-chan? I like my liver were it's at."

"Why are you here sensei?" Takara asked, frowning to herself as she could not see Chikako but that was to be expected as the woman was an Anbu captain.

"I am permitted to visit the homes of my future genin," Kakashi informed Takara. "Yours was the only one I didn't visit." Hiruzen sighed heavily as the implication settled in his mind and he was given no choice but to nod in agreement with his jonin. A wave of his hand and Chikako was crouching beside Takara and her mother, tanto held at the ready.

"Down girl, I mean no harm," Kakashi chuckled as he appeared beside the Hokage. "Can't you trust me Chikako-chan?"

"No," the woman replied courtly.

"Fair enough," Kakashi shrugged carelessly.

"Come," Hiruzen sighed heavily, "my apologies Koizumi-sama, I hope you don't mind." The hooded woman shook her head, rose to her feet and glided into the small tree house. Takara followed her mouther, Hiruzen following the girl's lead with Chikako following closely, the ominous sound of her Tanto sliding back into its sheath plenty warning to Kakashi.

"Down kitten," Kakashi chuckled as he stuffed both his hands into his pockets and followed Chikako in. At first nothing but candle light and old wood greeted his sight but then he saw that the house Takara lived in was no bigger then his single room flat. Next to the door leading outside was a small counter space with a basin and several drawers. To his right two long rods were fixed to the wall, the lower one was clearly Takara's as it contained several outfits that could fit her and the higher one contained several large cloaks and plane yukatas. Opposite of the wall the racks was what appeared to be a small fireplace, crimson ambers glowed ominously in the hearth. In the back right corner, was a large round bed that seemed to mimic a bird-nest but still contained several layers of quilts and what looked like fur blankets. Opposite of the bed was a small round table with two chairs, at each chair were chipped tea cups, one a ruddy brown and the other moldy-green.

"…She has worse living conditions then Naruto," Kakashi murmured. "These two don't even have electricity or running water."

"It's taking everything Chikako-chan and I have to keep these two hidden," Hiruzen explained. "While I have permitted Takara-chan to take place in the academy and have devised for Chikako-chan to be the one to take Takara-chan to and from the Academy. There is no such freedom for Takara's mother. Chikako-chan is the woman's only guardian and her only companion."

"So let me get this straight," Kakashi turned to give Chikako a very dull look. "You chose this location and the conditions for these two to live in?" Chikako said nothing but the masked woman did nod courtly. "You bloody—"

"children! there are children here," Hiruzen interrupted quickly.

"Koizumi-san cover your ears." Kakashi seethed, glaring at Chikako. Hiruzen groaned as both Koizumi's in the room did as ordered, one making sure her hood didn't slip from her head.

…

* * *

…

Kakashi sighed as he stared at his students, the boys were limp messes on the ground covered in bruises; he hadn't even bothered with giving chase to his only female student. All he knew at the moment was that it had been a week and the tree teens in his care couldn't get used to not using chakra in every exercise they performed in. Takara and Sasuke were so bad at using chakra habitually that Kakashi had to get them chakra suppressant bracelets. With Takara imminently feinting with the bracelet, Kakashi had then to improvise and teach the girl how to suppress her signature. Surprisingly it was Naruto who had the least trouble NOT using chakra, getting him to use chakra was the actual struggle.

"okay, on your feet boys," Kakashi said as he clapped his hands loudly. "Let's go find Koizumi-san and figure out what she's made us this time."

"Why dose she get to focus on trap making?" Naruto groaned, "I wanna learn!"

"According to your academy instructors, your trapping skills are chunin level." Kakashi drawled, "Koizumi's skill level is infantile."

"Infantile?" Sasuke questioned, looking up at his teacher with a raised eyebrow.

"She failed the course," Kakashi clarified, rolling his good eye. "It was the only reason she didn't become rooky of the year." Sasuke flopped his head back against the earth, breathing heavily as Naruto struggled to chuckle next to him. "What's so funny Naruto-kun?"

"heheh-hahaha," Naruto chuckled between gasping breaths, "SssSasuke… he… haha, he almost… almost didn't make… ru-ru-rooky!"

"Shut up dube," Sasuke grouched. "She's better… then you." Rolling his eyes, Kakashi reached into his kunai pouch and drew two kunai from it, purposefully drawing out the sound of the blades dragging across the leather holsters. The boys groaned on the ground before stiffly clambering to their feet, their speed barely increased as Kakashi readied the blades by his left ear; they did start running as he let the blades lose. From a across the training field, leaning against a tree close to the entrance, a smoking Jonin and his motivation-less students watched on. The boys looked on in amazement and concern, giving their teacher uncertain looks. Their female teammate watched with an expression of boredom and disinterest, her arms were crossed even as she leaned against the stone wall indicating the entrance to the training ground.

"Maybe I should take some cues from Kakashi." Asuma murmured thoughtfully, both boys paled while the girl snorted in disbelief. "What Nanami-chan? You don't think I can?"

"I think you wouldn't dare to hurt three clan heirs despite your relationship to the Hokage," the girl replied dully, her pupiless eyes watching team seven blankly. She ignored the surprised look given to her by her teammates and continued watching out of boredom. "Besides, he's over doing it. Eventually one of them is gonna collapse and no amount of threats is going to make them move."

"Are you still sore over losing to Sasuke?" Shikamaru questioned slowly. In answer Nanami gave him a glare that made him step backwards fearfully.

"Maybe I should throw a kunai at you," Nanami drawled lowly. "Maybe you'll move faster than a snail."

"Um, Asuma-sensei, I think it's time for us to have lunch." Chōji piped up uncertainly, stepping closer to Shikamaru but still further away from the Yamanaka-girl.

"I'm going home." Nanami rolled her eyes, lifting off the wall, she walked away from her team.

"What about team practice?" Asuma called out curiously

"My father will teach me everything I need to know," Nanami replied coldly. "You're just a glorified guard." Asuma glared at the girl's back, he knew full well why his father had placed the three heirs under his 'protection' and it had nothing to do with their parents. Sure, they were clan heirs but, as Nanami knew well, they were easily replaceable. The girl should know that best out of all three of them. After all, she was replacing Ino Yamanaka as clan heir, just as her father was replacing Inoichi Yamanaka as clan head.

"…is that true sensei?" Chōji asked him, looking hurt by the words of his teammate.

"Not really," Asuma sighed, patting the boy's head reassuring him. "All Jonin protect their students. All Jonin teach their given genin, regardless of names, titles or inheritance. Hokage-sama didn't put you under my care because of your parents but because he believes you to be irreplaceable."

"But we are replaceable," Shikamaru replied calmly, his eyes darkening. "Once Ino died, Nanami's father played dirty tricks to gain the clan-head title for himself. Now Inoichi-san is treated like a ghost."

"What do you mean?" Asuma questioned curiously. Shikamaru shrugged carelessly, turning away from his teacher, he walked towards the exit.

"Nanami is her father's only child, so she's used to being treated a certain way." Shikamaru explained, his face twisting up as a memory from several years ago surfaced in his mind. "Now she's not getting that treatment and she doesn't know how to react to us."

"She's been treated like a princess all her life?" Asuma asked with a raised eyebrow, only to be snorted at by Chōji. Asuma gave a wide-eyed surprised look to Chōji, who blushed brightly and looked away, shame filling his round face.

"She's only lived this long because Ino-chan died," Chōji murmured, Asuma's silent question. Asuma remained speechless as he watched his two students walk away, their postures hunched and their heads bowed. Nanami was a head of them a few paces. Her back was straight and stiff, her head high and her fists balled; she looked like a kunoichi marching to the front lines of a war. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Asuma drew a kunai slowly from his pouch, purposefully drawing out the sound before throwing it at Nanami. She was snapped around and catching the blade in her free hand almost before he could through the other two at Shikamaru and Chōji. She said nothing as the kunais scrapped Shikamaru's cheek and Chōji's shoulder, her eyes did darken though and that was enough to confirm Asuma's suspicions of the girl.

"I am not your guard," Asuma said, turning his best glare on his three students. "My job is to make sure you three bumbling messes survive to chunin. From there you're on your own." Nanami raised an eyebrow at him, Shikamaru touched his cheek with a frown and Chōji clutched at his arm, his face twisting up in pain and surprise. "Once you reach the rank of Chunin you can leave your parents homes and apply at various special ninja-courses. Whatever one's you want." He watched as the carefully-blank mask Nanami always wore cracked to reveal her surprise. "There is a chunin exam in five months. From now to then I will give you the training regiment of a chunin. I will not cater to your booboo's or laziness." A fourth kunai flew from his hand without warning, Nanami jerked as she hurried to catch it with her other hand, frowning at him now as she held a kunai in each palm. "Under my guidance," his hands blurred through several seals, "You will become Shinobi of the hidden leaf." Shikamaru and Chōji stiffened, their eyes glazing over as the paralyzing Genjutsu settled over them.

"What are you doing?" Nanami questioned, her voice quaked slightly. Undoubtedly, she wasn't used to people suddenly performing advanced jutsu in her pressence. Asuma sighed and scratched at the back of his head, with his two male students out of the way he could now question Nanami on his suspicions.

"We need to talk," Asuma grumbled, sending an unpleasant pout at her. "About your father—" her face twisted into a scowl, her eyes darkened to the deepest shade of orange he's ever seen, they looked like the color of wild fires and inherited the famous flames infamous glowing fury.

"I have nothing to say to you!" Nanami snarled the words out like they were curses. Even from the distance they were at, Asuma could feel the disturbance in her chakra; it felt like hurricane winds and earthquakes. He wasn't a particularly good sensor but even he could tell that he rattled her, she wasn't expecting a conversation about her father.

"You have ten-seconds to shut the hell up," Asuma glared back at the girl, watching her flinch and stiffen, as if he'd struck her. Sighing he looked away from the girl, he knew the signs of abuse well enough. "Just answer me with a yes or no, okay?" her hands tightened on the kunai, her head bowed and her shoulders slumped; they were usual signs of submission but with Nanami it was a sign of 'make it quick or I'm gone'.

"Your father can't compare to Inoichi-san, if you're serious about learning your clan techniques, go to him for help." Asuma started, he watched as Nanami's brows twitched as if she wanted to frown at him but was resistant to do so. "You can use team practice as a cover. Tell me the times Inoichi-san requested and I'll make sure to collaborate it with the boys so they don't break your cover."

"Why?" her voice cracked, confusion filling her orange eyes. "I'm not important. I'm just a pawn. I'm replicable…"

"…not everyone think's your replaceable," Asuma shrugged carelessly. "I know Hokage-sama would be greatly disappointed to hear that and as for your teammates?" Asuma smirked as Shikamaru took in a deep breath, his brown eyes dilating as he smacked a glowing palm to Chōji's shoulder and dragged him to stand in front of Nanami protectively.

"Yama! Retreat!" Shikamaru barked, at first Nanami thought the boy had abbreviated her surname but then she saw that Chōji had expanded his hand to shove their teacher away while Shikamaru manipulated the shadows of several birds to free fall onto the man. Then Chōji was shrinking, racing towards her he quickly expanded his hand and tossed her over his shoulder as he expanded his legs. Shikamaru leaped up onto his friend before Chōji took a jump and shrunk mid-air. Not liking heights, Nanami unintentionally let out a shriek of terror before clinging to Chōji like a life line. Startled the two boys struggled to land with the added weight of Nanami clinging to them. The boys landed on a roof, leaped into the street and took off into an alleyway where they hid behind a pile of trash.

"Yamanaka! Yamanaka are you alright? Did you get hurt?!" Chōji asked as he kneeled and shook Nanami's shoulder. The girl unburied her face from his neck and looked up at her teammates with tear-filled eyes. "Yamanaka-san, did he hurt you?" in a flash the tears dried, Nanami was suddenly on her feet looking furiously down on both boys.

"IDIOTS!" Nanami bellowed, smashing both fits into both boy's heads, making them yelp and crash to the dirty alleyway ground. "Warn me before you go flinging me through the air! And what the hell dose 'my mama' got to do with 'retreating'?!"

"Yama! Yama! Not 'your mama' Yama!" Shikamaru said quickly, his voice pitched in panic as he wrapped both hands around his aching head. "We created that phrase years ago, did you have to hit us?!"

"Years ago?!" Nanami screeched. "why the hell didn't you two idiots tell me about it?!" the boys shared a look, making the girl's brow tick in annoyance. "Just for that I should hit you both again!"

"Please don't!" Chōji cried out, leaning away from the blonde. "You weren't supposed to be our teammate!" that stilled Nanami, her face falling blank as she stared down on Chōji. "It was supposed to be Ino-chan! Na-na-na…not… you," as if realizing what he was saying, Chōji's voice trailed off, sadness filled his eyes and regret morphed his face. Nanami straightened, her hands relaxing at her sides, her eyes staring blankly down on the boys, her chakra signature retreating from their senses.

"…uh, Yamanaka-san?" Shikamaru questioned slowly, staring up at Nanami uncertainly.

"…as If I wanted to be your teammate," Nanami murmured, she snapped around on her heal and marched towards the opposite end of the alleyway, away from her teammates. "I never… wanted this…"

…

* * *

…

Takara laughed at her teammates, their training for the day ended with the boys getting snagged in a net and dangled over a small fire. Kakashi called it day after seeing that Sasuke nearly hurled when they were released from said trap. Currently they were walking down the village center, Sasuke and Naruto dragging their feet while Takara dangled upside down from Kakashi's shoulders. She wasn't afraid to fall because the man had a good hold on her feet and she was just short enough that her head dangled just below his ribcage.

"Sense~ei," Naruto whined, one hand rubbing at the bump forming on the back of his head. "where are we going?"

"a special place," Kakashi replied patently. "Here! …Hmm? …boys? … turn here… boys!" Kakashi barked, making the boys jump and turn back to him, at this point Takara had pulled herself up to lay across Kakash's head with big goofy smile.

"that's okay, my nii-sans can keep walking and miss out on a fee meal!" Takara laughed, the boys were too tiered to register her words and so only looked at each other in confusion. They turned towards the store Kakashi was standing before, an aura of bewilderment surrounding him. Takara giggled as Kakashi heaved a heavy sigh, his shoulders rising and dropping dramatically, jostling Takara and making her giggle loudly.

"Kakashi-san is that you?" a young feminine voice called out, "What are you doing out there? Come in!" from the doorway of the building, parting the greeting curtains with a well-tanned withered hand, was a young woman dressed in a navy yukata. "hmm?" Takara blinked as the thirty-something woman caught sight of her, an immanent frown knitted her brows together. "Who is this?" the woman asked as she swept her brown eyes out to examine anyone else nearby and discovered a haggard Uchiha and very unsure looking Uzumaki.

"Nohara-chan, long time no see," Kakashi half-heartedly waved at the woman, one eye partially closed. "Is the brat in today?"

"Don't call him that," the woman huffed at Kakashi. "besides that, you're late. Did you finally pass a team of genin or are you baby-sitting again?"

"I don't baby-sit and you know it," Kakashi groaned at her. "Yes, I finally passed a genin team, no need to rub it in." the woman smiled mischievously at him, "Ran Nohara, what are you planning?" the woman only chuckled at him, waving the boys in after her hurriedly before rushing back into the store. "Nohara-san? Nohara-san?" Kakashi called out uncertainly, his voice rising with each call. Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other before rushing to enter the building before the other, they barely managed to make it in at the same time, their shoulders crashing together before they both tumbled inside in a tangled mess. Takara laughed as Naruto whined about Sasuke elbowing him in the back where he was bruised from his previous landing. Sighing in utter dread, Kakashi followed his boys into the building, making sure to stoop extra low so Takara wouldn't hit her head. Inside it was a simple looking shop with wooden tables and benches, soft rice-paper walls obstructed the occasional booth tucked along the wall with windows for ventilation. It was a simple wide-open space with various decorative scrolls dangling from the walls and large swaths of cloth beholding strange symbols coated the ceiling, interspaced with skylights.

"Woooow," Takara murmured as she looked around, taking in all the decorative ceiling-sheets.

"Kakashi-kun! Over here!" near the center of the large building was a large round fireplace, Ran was standing near it and waving about excitedly. Naruto and Sasuke were drooped over the stone barrier, smiling in sleepy content with the embers of the pit sending out gentle waves of heat onto the stone. "your boys seem to like this spot, it looks familiar to me too!"

"Let's not go there Nohara-san," Kakashi groaned as he walked closer to the woman, "Where's the brat?"

"he's with Yuri-chan getting his check up," Ran explained with a shrug. "anyways, he should be back in about an hour. Why don't you and missy sit down and I'll grab some water, Kakashi-kun do you want your usual?"

"Yes please," Kakashi agreed as he lifted Takara off his shoulders and gently set her onto the stone burrier next to Sasuke; the woman smiled and disappeared, moving with the same swiftness of any hurrying patron. Takara crouched on the stone burrier, peering into Sasuke's exhausted face before poking at it in curiosity.

"Brat… stop it," Sasuke grouched, earning himself amused laughter from Ran as she reappeared with a tray of four large water glasses and a pitcher.

"My doesn't that bring back memories," Ran chuckled as she set a glass next to the boy's head, passed Kakashi his and stooped to hand Takara her own cup with a playful wink. Takara took the cup gently, staring at the woman with curious jade eyes, as if she was unsure of the woman's actions. "Here's the pitcher boys, don't drain it all at once and it'll refill on its own." Naruto pushed himself up at the last part, his face scrunching up in confusion as Ran walked away to tend to some other customers.

"This is a shinobi restaurant," Kakashi explained when Naruto moved his face close to the pitchers, examining it as closely as his face would allow. "There aren't that many, even in Konoha, but this one is my favorite place."

"Ah, I can see why!" Takara gasped, rising to her full height on the fireplace edge, a wide smile on her face as she pointed up to the roof. "That's you right sensei?! Who are those people with you?!" Kakashi looked up at the ceiling, noting how his genin-team photo wasn't the only one circling the upper section of the roof. There were dozens of other team photos, the ones who stuck out the most were photos containing the Hokage looking as genin and then again with said men with their own genin cell to lead. Kakashi himself wasn't entirely sure how the matron of the restaurant managed to get photos of every genin cell but the individual did and no one ever questioned it.

"That's my genin cell," Kakashi murmured, "Anyways I didn't bring you three here to dredge up the past. We came to eat, now have you decided what you want?"

"Huh? But sensei, where are the menus?" Takara asked curiously, "I haven't seen anything like them here."

"Walls," Sasuke groaned, a trembling finger rising from his side to point at the far-right side. "They're the paintings…" Takara blinked and looked about the shop again, true to Sasuke's exhausted words every painting of what ever animal was painted was also painted beside a strange dish of food.

"Oh cool!" Takara gushed, clapping her hands and jumping up and down excitedly. "I'm gonna go look!" off like a rocket she launched herself to the closest painting, arms spread wide as she laughed shrilly and raced about.

"No running Koizumi!" Kakashi called out lazily, "and stay close!"

"Okay!" Takara giggled as raced off again, skidding before another painting with dancing eyes. Seeing the matron further down the wall of booths, Takara smiled and raced towards the woman.

"That is very rude!" Ran barked, her face twisting up into a glare. Takara stopped running towards the older woman, her eyes widening as she recognized the tone of voice indicating a mixture of panic and annoyance. "I'm not kicking them out for you or anyone else." Ran's voice was very firm, her hand clenching at her chest as her shoulders shook, as if to loosen the material, or so she could remember to lower her voice for the other customers. "You have no right to demand anything of me. If you're that unnerved by some children then you should inform Hokage-sama so he can put you on a vacation." Who ever was in the booth hissed lowly, to Takara their voice sounded like a low angry hiss of a cat readying to pounce on an enemy. "I could careless about your threats _boy_ ," Ran hissed herself, her chocolate eyes glinting furiously. "you are free to leave and welcome to never return." She snapped her fingers and a light shimmering over the booth took place, like vapers dancing before dissipating.

"What the hell woman, we're having a conversation." A man's voice snarled disdainfully at Ran.

"I am the matron of this establishment. If you have a problem with my kin, then you are free to leave and never to return." Ran replied coolly. "This is a family restaurant, hence why there are children here as well. I will not kick out one of my best paying regulars to feed your twisted sense of humor. Now leave." One of the men in the booth moved, Ran stepped back with a glower on her face, Takara's fists clenched in front of herself as she looked about for help.

"I said LEAVE!" Ran's voice bellowed, echoing through out the building, making every booth and table shimmer with vaper before the occupants of the tables looked toward Ran with suspicious eyes. Seeing her posture, several adults rose from their tables, kunai in hand and glares on their faces; it took Takara only a moment to see their headbands. One of the men growled lowly inside the booth, Ran stepped aside, her back turned to Takara as she waved a hand towards the exit. Takara watched as three men left the booth, with only the last man noticing her. Takara watched as the final man, a man with hair the color of a golden sunset, paused in the middle of rising from the booth; his storm blue eyes locked on her.

"Get going," Ran spat at him. "And don't come back!" The man smirked at Takara, ignoring Ran as he rose to his full height and walked away, his hands folding together in the sleeves of his loose Yukata. At the entrance his two companions turned back to look at Ran, their faces angry scowls, their hair the color of dark pink. The third man paused in the door, smirking over his shoulder.

"Little girl, can you not bare our crest?" for a moment Ran was confused, then with wide eyes and a gasp she snapped around to look down on Takara, horror contorting her face. "Even your dear sister could bare the mark of the fallen. Do you lack even that much honor?" Takara dropped her gaze, her fisted hands clutching the cloth at her throat as tears welled in her eyes, her hole body shaking uncontrollably. "huh… I wonder what your mother would say about that."

"That's enough! Leave!" Ran barked loudly, frustration contorted her face.

"oh yeah, I forgot." The man chuckled as he took his leave. "She's dead. She doesn't care." Takara remained trembling, tears freely falling from her eyes as Ran spun on her foot and kneeled before Takara. For a moment, Ran looked as lost as any stranger dealing with a child for the first time. She rose her hand slowly only to drop it back into her lap, the woman's shoulders dropped and regret filled her soft doe-eyes.

"Koizumi-chan," Ran murmured gently. "Don't listen to those fools. I'm sure your mother… is very proud of you." Takara remained trembling, her head bowed as tears continued to drop from her eyes. "Takara-chan," Ran murmured, hesitantly raising her hand again.

"How?" Takara's voice trembled with the word. "How can I trust you?" Ran straightened with the questioned, she's never had anyone ask her that before. "you're a Genjutsu-mistress. Illusions, lies, fabrication of reality is your specialty. How do I know… that the words falling from your lips are true? How do I know that you're not lying to me? That in your heart and in your mind… something else is roaming free?" all emotion fell from Ran's old face, her eyes widening partially in her shock. Never has anyone thrown her profession like daggers at her before, no one has ever doubted her word or her intentions. No one has ever said such cruel words to her…

"Everyone in this village… I don't understand it…" Takara's voice was trembling, ignorant of the soft steps approaching her. "Everyone listens to rumors and lies as if… as if they're the words of some kami they should worship. No one… no one even bothers to learn about someone else on their own. No one wants to get to know someone else and make their own judgments. Everyone goes off the one negative thing that someone has to say… and then that's all that person will ever be to anyone. So why?" Takara looked up at Ran, her face flooded with large beads of water that continued to roll down her round miserable face. "So why should I trust you, when I don't even know you?"

"Takara-chan," sniffling the little girl turned around to see Naruto and Sasuke standing behind her, sad smiles on their faces. "Come on, let's go." Naruto smiled at her, sad and accepting, as he held out his hands and stooped just a little. "I know Grandma Ikeda would love to see you again. We can eat there, okay?" Takara's eyes over flowed with tears, surprise made the trembling cease, at least for a moment.

"Oo-o-o-o-onii-san!" Takara stuttered before racing towards her teammates, throwing her arms around Naruto's neck and sobbing uncontrollably all over him. Sasuke sighed and raised one hand, settling it gently on the girl's arm.

"Let's go," Sasuke huffed, "Fujita-baa-san should have her tea brewing right about now." Naruto nodded and started walking, ignoring Ran and her customers, the members of team seven left the establishment. Kakashi hung back for a moment, looking between his food and his students. Sighing heavily, he followed the boys out the door, looking back with regret at his steaming plate of food laying untouched on the fireplace counter.

"Ah, Kakashi-kun," Ran called out, looking up at him as he started to close the door, finally getting her senses back in order.

"Give'em time Nohara-san," Kakashi murmured. "Right now they need something stable… something they can trust in… right now, that's not you." He closed the door and followed after his students, he was interested in meeting Hoshimoto-san again. The stuttering man was pleasant to talk to, at least he was more pleasant then the old women who lived in Naruto's building.

…

* * *

…

Hiruzen sighed as he read the file on his desk, he was beginning to get annoyed with certain individuals residing in his village. The clan he accepted into the village recently, acutely it was several years ago and it was the Youndaime who invited them not Hiruzen, has been creating trouble whenever they see a certain little girl. Thankfully their 'ruckus' is limited only to their voices but he knew that it wouldn't be long before the clan would start getting physical. He understood the implications that every word they uttered meant, after all the clan was well known for their short tempers and stalking tendencies. Once they promised vengeance, nothing got in the way of it; not even the fall of a comrade or relative. While the clan itself has not declared the girl to be killed, Hiruzen knew that it wouldn't be long before they were fed up with her existence.

"Owl, can you find and replace Chikako-chan for me?" Hiruzen asked one of his trusted guards with a thoughtful expressions. "Don't be alarmed if she attacks first. She's been on edge with her current mission."

"Understood sir," Owl murmured and disappeared in the same breath, leaving Hiruzen to go back through his documents. He was beginning to struggle with finding suitable D-ranks for team seven, before long the other teams would have them claimed and he would be forced to give the special team his patiently waiting C-rank. Thankfully, that man was still in search of supplies for his task so he wasn't in need of a team just yet but still, there was something off with the bridge builder. It wouldn't be for several more hours until Owl would return with both Chikako and her charge, both later women retreating to a safer corner away from Owl.

"As predicted Hokage-sama, Chikako attacked first." Owl murmured from where he bowed before Hirzuen's desk.

"Thank you, owl, please get that wound treated at the hospital," Hiruzen instructed as he continued writing across a few papers. The disguised man nodded and disappeared once more, small drops of blood slipped from his numbed left arm to splash against the side of the Hokage's desk. Pausing in his writing, Hiruzen took a deep calming breath before grabbing a hanker chief from his top left drawer and started rubbing against his desk hurriedly.

"There," Hiruzen mumbled, returning the hanky to the drawer. "Did you have to use your sword on him?" Hiruzen asked as he settled his hands on his desk and turned his tiered black eyes onto the Kunoichi.

"He started it by setting off all my traps and ringing a big-ass bell," Chikako drawled as she rose to her feet, her charge straightening but kept close to the Anbu's back. Hiruzen sighed, he had to admit it, Owl did have Chikako's wrath rightfully earned but he doubted a sword was the right answer.

"Did you do any permanent damage?" Hiruzen asked tiredly.

"Properly not," the woman shrugged carelessly.

"Chikako," Hiruzen said her name with a tone of warning.

"Defiantly not," Chikako grunted, a pout sounding in her voice. "What is it that you asked of me today, Hokage-sama?" Hiruzen frowned at the woman, not approving of her 'attack-first-ask-questions-later' tactic while she was in protection detail.

"I would like for you to do some research for me," Hiruzen started, "Koizumi-sama can remain here with me. Takara will remain with her teammates."

"…What is this mission and why am I the only candidate?" Chikako asked gruffly, crossing her arms over her silver breast-plate.

"Go into the village and gather information." Hiruzen explained simply, shuffling some papers again search of documents he needed. "Anything you can find on Koizumi-sama's husband's movements." The cloaked woman gasped sharply, her gloved hands gripping tightly on Chikako's left arm, her hood flipping back and forth to convey a negative of the mission. "I'm sorry Koizumi-sama, but I need Chikako for this. The council has noticed her absence in the village and the consistent income she's been making. I need to get them distracted with her presence in the village. If she wanders seemingly aimlessly in the village then they'll be content that she's still living and I haven't killed her and slowly feeding money into her account to make it appear as if she's still living."

"I return to the apartment every few days," Chikako grunted, an audible frown in her voice. "How is that not enough presence?"

"Because you arrive and leave your residence at insane hours, travel by shinobi means and allow no one to see you come and go as you please," Hiruzen drawled. "Now then, go and relax. Walk about like a civilian, eat BBQ or something, just let act like a normal human being today."

"And gather information on the Koizumi clan's movements?" Chikako questioned

"Hm? Oh yes, that as well." Hiruzen nodded as he went back to his paper work, "Well then, off you go." Chikako looked back at her charge, for a moment the after-noon sun lit up the eyes inside the hood, luminescent jade stared back at her sorrowfully. Behind her mask Chikako smiled gently in reassurance before realizing that the woman couldn't see her face, sighing the Anbu nodded and tapped the gloved palm clutching to her arm.

"I'll be back by dusk, promise," Chikako murmured before disappearing. Hiruzen smiled at the hooded woman encouragingly before gesturing towards his cushioned couch, silently telling her to take a seat in the corner of the room. Slowly the woman walked quietly to the chair and sat down, it took her only a few moments to make herself comfortable and then, before either knew it, the shrouded woman was curled up in a ball and sleeping soundly.

"…her nest must not be as comfortable as it looks," Hiruzen mumbled. The sound of his soft voice woke the woman and she was suddenly pressing her back against the wall between the couch and shelf, her hand raised protectively over her head. Hiruzen frowned but said nothing of her actions as the woman slowly lowered her arms and double checked the location of her hood. Once realizing that she was safe and had only slept for a moment in Hiruzen's office, the cloaked woman meekly took her seat on the couch again.

"I just received a progress report from Kakashi-kun about his team." Hiruzen said softly as he shuffled through his papers, "would you like to hear about it?" He looked up and saw that the cloaked woman was now standing before his desk, jade eyes glowing in the depths of her hood; sad, regretful, hopeful, frightened, and yet, mysteriously, he could see a flicker of pride. He was not surprised to note that the woman had gone from the corner of his office to standing before his desk, her robes hardly having moved with the distance.

…

* * *

…

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 **Page 11**


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